Going back even further in time to my own childhood , do you know what I recall about Halloween ? Not the sweets or other treats. I remember as clearly as if it were yesterday the look on my Grandfather's face as he climbed onto a kitchen chair  as he feigned fear or surprise at the apparition before him. He may have even peeked and seen the ritual dressing in costume but gave no hint that he knew who was under that mask as he made my night. That was the high point of Halloween for me. My surprise visit to Grandpa. I knew Grandma would know it was me but not my very dignified Grandpa. He hadn't been around as I dressed to go on my adventure. That was the very best part of that night for me and I looked forward to it every year until I grew too big to enjoy going trick or treating. Not the treats  ... the fun of the occasion.

No longer does Halloween seem like a wondrous adventure where children frolic with their friends unhindered by adult overseers. No longer do they don their costumes with happy anticipation of the treats awaiting them at each new warmly lit home on their route wondering what this home will have waiting for their eager arrival. No home-made popcorn balls, no candy apples, no home-made fudge or unexpected treat.  Only the same  packaged commercial products as they receive at every stop which will provide reassurance that no one has tampered with them and there is no danger attached to the acceptance of  the  treat. And of course, which still must not be eaten until Mommy or Daddy, patiently waiting in the shadows, have thoroughly checked each and every morsel to be absolutely certain  they have not been tampered with by some sick, depraved individual  who would harm a child  for no other reason than  because they derive some perverted satisfaction from doing so.

 Yes, Halloween is still fun. Dressing up in costumes is always great fun to a child but having to then make your rounds with parents in tow rather than  with a group of your peers somehow turns the evening into a shopping trip no more exciting than going to the corner variety store. Only difference being that no money changes hands. And it has become an exercise in who can collect the most  goodies fostering greed and a selfish and excessive desire for more than is needed. Hardly a lesson one should hope to teach a child. And heaven forbid anyone ask the child into their home to  visit for a minute or two! Immediate alarm bells go off at the very suggestion  of them being out of the parent's sight. What ulterior motive lies behind such an invitation? Gone are the days when this only meant that  the child show the proper appreciation for the gift being proffered  by the  people who had taken the time to  make a special treat for their visitors. 

To me Halloween has become a travesty where we teach children to expect they will be rewarded  with no expectation that they appreciate or acknowledge they have been treated warmly by those who welcome them to their door. Just another stop on their shopping spree.  And there will be no inventory time upon the return home  where the child can tell from whom each different treat came as they are all alike. Pre-packaged commercial confectionery  with goodness knows what ingredients instead of home-made sweets created specifically for them by that really nice lady in the white house, or the man who always smiles  and waves  when he sees you playing road hockey in front of his home. Or the people who live in the house you always pass as you head to the woods at the end of the street for a hike and a picnic with your friends. And this is most definitely not the fault of the child who cannot wait to move on  in the rush to acquire more ... it is the fault of the society in which we live. Community no longer exists.

Instead we offer them a world where danger is the norm, adults who would harm them may be anywhere,  kindness and safety are anachronisms, and innocence is only another antiquated notion from a bygone era. Is it any wonder so many of them grow up to be angry  young adults ?

 Yes, I know the world is much busier and more dangerous than when I was a child or even when my son was a youngster but why was it necessary that we allow so much to be lost ? Surely we could have been wiser in our acceptance of so many changes and  assured we safeguarded that which was of such value. Halloween is only one example of the changes wrought by our careless disregard of what should have been protected  for our children. That grievous oversight and lack of respect for tradition and heritage permeates everything in our society.

And our children and grandchildren are paying the price for our shameful failure and mishandling of the world we bequeath to them.  So much for progress. And at what an exorbitant price.  In my humble opinion .. the cost has been an obscenity.

 And to make it even worse, we are continuing to squander everything which was so lovingly passed on to us with every expectation we would live up to our responsibility and act in kind. When will we wake up ? Only when the last shred of what our world once was is gone ? Only when we hate and mistrust one another irretrievably ?

 Happy Halloween indeed. For truly the monsters are everywhere, and we are standing silently by as they destroy our children's world.