Trick-or-Treat

Happy Halloween! With apologies to my friends in Europe, where anti Trick-or-Treating sentiment has been on the rise, I must say that this is one of my favorite times of the year. It's a moment in which whole neighborhoods become theme parks, while scores of costumed tykes ride a sugar-fueled roller coaster from house to house, nervously flitting from worlds of happy inflatable smiling ghosts and cheerful plush pumpkins, to dark haunted mansions festooned in webs, spiders, headstones, and skulls.

It's a cultural ritual that gently familiarizes our children with the inevitable idea of death and the soul, ushering in the beginning of a cycle of decay and rebirth they see Mother Nature acting out all around them. It prepares them in a small sense with the developmental concept of facing and combating their inner fears. It acknowledges the bond we share with generations that have come - and gone - before us. It sanctions the idea that make-believe is OK, and a necessary release for everyone.

And besides, dammit, it's fun.

Fun, that is, except for one aspect of the Halloween ritual that I would agree with European critics is a deplorable and escalating characteristic of the holiday. As this WaPo story illustrates, the seeming rise in senseless vandalism casually associated with Halloween is inexcusable - as it is in any "celebration" (see: NBA title, World Cup victory, etc.) that is used as a mass excuse for thoughtless, disrespectful destruction and theft. There's nothing realistically "fun" about that, morons!

But beyond even that, what does the wink-and-a-nod given to Halloween vandalism say about us as an enlightened society? When did manners, courtesy, and respect for the space of other human beings go out of style? I didn't get the memo. Wanton destruction that tries to disguise itself as entertainment needs to be condemned and prevented, no matter what day of the year it is.

A recent AP poll suggested that Americans have become "a rude, boorish lot", and certainly the destructive behavior that Halloween brings does nothing to dispel that notion. Suck it up, America - we simply have to do a better job of instilling basic decency in our children, and in our day to day lives as well. Manners, courtesy, and respect are three human attributes that are never out of style.