I don't know about you, but
I find Halloween to be one of the scariest holidays going. I am not trying to
be funny about this; I just find the whole holiday, and how it plays out in our
modern society, to be pretty creepy.
Kids dress up in costumes
as they have for decades, but things are different now. Parents bring their
kids to the doors of people that they know, and even if a house is decorated
for Halloween, parents won't let their kids go there unless they know the
people in the house.
Just the fact that parents
are involved with Halloween sends shivers up my spine. This is a kids'
event--why are parents at all involved?
It's because our society
has gotten creepier as the years have gone by. What was once a relatively safe
occasion has become one where caution is the top treat, not candy. You just
can't let your kids go where they might want to go anymore, because there are a
lot of people out there who consider Halloween their time to be idiots. They
don't have to dress the part at all, it is based on their behavior and how they
treat the kids who come to their door.
No, it's not safe anymore.
Look, I walked my two kids
to doors around our neighborhood on Halloween. I found that you really have to
be careful. Not only are some of the houses you go to filled with real-life
ghouls. but drivers don't seem to be very cautious either. They drive as if the
street was theirs, throwing caution to the wind.
When I was a kid, you had
to be careful, too, but I don't think that you had to be that careful. Sure,
you would get the occasional apple with pins in it (my sister did, as I recall),
but parents could let their kids go it alone, and I think people were just more
into the fun aspect of the holiday than they are now.
Sure, we bought costumes,
but what did they cost, a couple of dollars? Today, Halloween is a
multi-million-dollar industry in itself.
I think the whole problem
is that Halloween has been co-opted by us adults. It is now as much our holiday
as it is our kids' holiday, and you know what, that is wrong.
I know this rant has been
written after Halloween, but I just wanted to see what happened this Halloween
and make my observations.
And no, I haven't changed
my opinion.
In fact, we left a bowl of
candy out on the step, and my son, who is too old to go out anymore, saw two
girls take the whole thing for themselves, leaving nothing for anyone else.
Happily, we had some more candy on hand, but I am telling you, this type of
behavior would not have happened in my day.
Boo on them, and boo on those that have made
Halloween into what it is today.
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