Booo!

It’s Halloween. Big deal. If you are a kid (up to and slightly past teenager), you get a kick out of this weird ‘holiday.’ I don’t. Outgrew it once our kids were above caring. And I stopped caring between late teens and childbearing years. That means, most of my life has been spent not caring about Halloween.

Now, candy bars freely dispensed at neighbors’ doors, that never goes out of style for me. Make mine Snickers.

OK. There was one dark period regarding Halloween, however. It was when I was a new homeowner and a very young parent. I worried that some young delinquent would vandalize my house or car. The worry was financial. In those days I simply could not afford an extra expenditure. Later it didn’t worry me. Oh, I continue to care that someone might vandalize our homestead; the injustice of that action is the bother.

On the other hand, we Americans can certainly state that we live in a society that is under constant pressure from vandalism. Think about street crime. Gun violence. School shootings. Rude behavior in public places. The continual upset-ness of our social order seems to be just a prolonged Halloween prank to me.

That includes election nonsense in my book. How do self-respecting adults think they can act this way? Utter rubbish. In fact, this behavior is so out of the ordinary on a global scale that people think our brand of democracy is pure nonsense.

Perhaps it is. Perhaps we don’t deserve American Democracy? If we can’t manage it well enough without dirty tricks, maybe we don’t deserve it.

Hooliganism is not just a mark of the young. In today’s America, it is a badge of honor among all too many adults.

October 31, 2022

 

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