Privilege on display

I went to a Christmas party late yesterday afternoon. The neighboring house was also having a party. A large group of adults and children was gathered in their driveway as I pulled onto the street, and I had to park about a block up the road due to all of the cars. As I got out of my car, I heard the neighboring partygoers repeatedly chanting, "Three... two... one... GO!" Each time the chant was followed by a loud thud and then much cheering and applause. When I got close enough to see what was going on, I discovered that there was someone on the roof of the house tossing pumpkins onto the driveway, where they shattered in front of the crowd. Over and over again. I'd estimate that at least a dozen pumpkins were sacrificed in this manner.

I don't mean to sound like a Scrooge, but I was actually physically disgusted by this display. Not only could I not understand what was supposed to be so entertaining about smashing a bunch of pumpkins to smithereens on a driveway, but I also couldn't help thinking that only in America would people destroy perfectly good food by throwing it off of the roof in front of an enthusiastic crowd, just for fun.