Walter: Shut The Door On Trick-Or-Treating
I'm hoping I can get away with saying this: It's time for Halloween to go.
It started out OK as an Irish festival celebrating the end of summer. But it's become a nasty game called Trick or Treat: Gimme a treat, or I'll soap your windows or wrap your bushes in toilet paper, or let the air out of your tires.
Knock on someone's door and say, "Gimme what I want or I'll give you what you don't want." That's Halloween: Teach our children the ways of bribery, or how to be an extortionist.
Why do we do that? Encourage children to knock on a door and demand some candy or buzz the bell to get a taffy apple -- assuming it's safe to eat – not knowing that some predator may open the door.
And what about the junk in candy-taffy, the sugar and fat that's harmful to children? Enough of it to eat for a week and cause bad feelings at home when mom or dad takes it away.
Or buzz-buzz-buzz that bell to say "Boo!" and scare a little old lady half to death. What's the idea: that a lady's fear is a child's fun?
Excuse me, please, but I don't think Halloween is fun, or ought to be fun or that mom or dad to be calling it fun.
