What has happened to Halloween? Good question. Last night was October 31st, officially Halloween. The night when ghouls, ghosts, witches, fairies, PAC man and other factious creatures come to life in our homes and spill out onto the streets of our towns and nation. Even the President gave out Halloween treats. White House M & M's, cookies and dried fruit (You knew there would be something healthy in those treat bags). He probably is really in on the Halloween festivities since he has two young daughters who are at the right age for trick or treating. I wonder if the Secret Service Men have to go in costume.....they probably could go as the Men In Black, since they would only have to wear their black suit instead of their blue one.
The holiday has really changed since I was a child. Now a days people are scared to send their children out by themselves. It isn't safe, not with all the wackos and degenerates that are just waiting to catch an innocent kid in their grips. It's too bad that a fun kid holiday should have to be so guarded, just to make sure that no one gets hurt. Thank goodness that there are churches and city organizations that are willing to go the extra mile and provide fun and LOTS of candy for our trick or treaters.
My hubby and I didn't stay at home last night (shame on us) but decided to take a drive around town just to see what was going on. We took our police scanner hoping to maybe to hear something exciting going on during this Halloween. We stayed out for probably hour and a half. We did see some parents taking their kids around their neighborhoods and I did see very cute ghost with his little fairy sister running off some of the candy they had eaten earlier. But not once, not once did we hear of an car egging, a house being toilet papered or anything that would construe Halloween mischief. We did hear of a call in the Valley of three kids smashing a couple of their neighbors pumpkins on his porch. But being the stupid kids they were the neighbor saw them, knew who they were and was reporting their names to the cops. Well Duh! Don't smash your neighbors pumpkins, or better yet if you just have to be destructive, buy one of your own, put it on your porch, sneak around and smash it. Same thrill.....except you probably will end up cleaning the mess up, which is what I bet happened to those kids when the cops found them.
Times are a lot different now. Back when I was growing up it was a lot safer to go out trick or treating. Kids could go out by themselves, without their parent. My family lived in a small town and everyone knew your family and your family knew everyone. You planned out your Halloween route weeks in advance. You knew who gave out the best cookies, popcorn balls and treats. People gave out homemade treats and we loved them. You also knew which house to stay away from because that crabby old man lived there and he never gave out good treats, if he gave out any at all.
My father was a reserve police officer, and loved to work Halloween. He loved to catch kids egging cars and toilet papering houses or doing other mischief. Why because he usually new the kid's parents and loved having to take the kids home and rat them out to their parents. It didn't help that these kids were friends of mine and he knew them all. He wasn't mean about it, he just said that this was how he pulled his Halloween pranks. To be fair, he did warn all of us that he and others would be out and about, so we had all better be good and stay out of trouble. Yeah right. I did pull a few pranks, mostly innocent ones, but I did have a few friend (mostly guys) who really went above and beyond what they should have. These few usually deserved to get caught and ended up cleaning up their tricks. So the trickee usually had the last laugh instead of the tricker.
Yes, Halloween is a lot different today, which is too bad. The world has gotten to be a very dangerous place. But there are still a lot of us that are trying to make it a better and safer place for everyone. Halloween isn't the same as it was but neither is the world. Pretty soon, kids won't even have to leave their houses to go trick or treating, they'll be able to stay safe and warm, having their own party at home while their robot goes door to door for them. Wow, that will sure save the feet of a lot of tired, shivering parents. But it also could take away from the fun spirit of Halloween. Maybe or maybe not. Reports coming in from my kids and nieces, states that a spooky scary fun time was had by old and young alike last night. So I guess no matter what, the spirit of Halloween just might persevere and continue on in this brave new world we find ourselves living in.
Until later, read a book, make love and eat chocolate. (the only bad thing about growing old and not having grand kids yet, is that there aren't any Halloween baskets to raid, so no chocolate!!!)
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