Today is Halloween! Boy, has this event changed over the years. I recall it was a fun, festive time at school. We wore our costumes there, brought treats and we even would eat the treats! Then we would come home from school, and then go out. We would walk to every house we could with a big plastic orange jack-o-lantern that would hold all the candy. The after school walk was a huge window of time. As we walked, we looked for homes with lights on the porch. Flash forward to today's version of the holiday. At school, it is viewed as a religious holiday, so it is banned from the school. Kids cannot eat any candy they get without it being x-rayed at the local hospital or taken to the local fire fighter's hall. Even if the candy is clean, drug free and without metal fragments, kids cannot have the candy because it will effect their A.D.D. medication or an organized group of people will protest that the treats must be heart-healthy. Heaven knows, that some children do not go with their parents on this walk of trick or treat, they go with their attorney, court appointed or other, and threaten law suits if the candy distribution seems to unfair, unjust or even discriminatory. Finally, it is a challenge to find a costume, when all the Christmas garland and lights are in full sight. I guess the holiday is scary but for all the wrong reasons. Bah, humbug!
1 comment:
If you were a decade older, you'd have remembered that you could go out for MANY nights, not just on Halloween. And you could stay out until the street lights came on or you heard your mom yelling for you! And the neighbors who gave you homemade stuff - like popcorn balls - did it becasue they liked kids - in the normal sense!
Post a Comment