With Halloween just past us, I can’t help but wonder what happened to “trick” in “trick-or-treating.” It used to be, back in the old days, that when kids yelled out “trick-or-treat” they were actually asking a question. It was a threatening question. There was a real chance of vandalism if an adult or their treat was not appreciated.
In the classic film, Meet Me in St. Louis, Halloween in the early 20th century is depicted. The kids in town, all without supervision, seemed far less interested in treats and far more interested in the dastardly deeds they were going to participate in. Some of those deeds were dastardly ingenious.
We’ve come a long way since then. It used to be understood that it was okay to let kids run amuck for an evening, committing minor acts of destruction. It was part of the growing up experience. Something for adults to chuckle about when they thought of their own Halloween exploits.
But now Halloween is totally commercialized, totally safe–and totally boring. Being bad back then inspired a sort of creativity. But now, it’s not only too risky to allow our kids to explore such things; it’s dangerous. They could have criminal charges filed against them for the same things that used to be tolerated in a safer environment.
It’s not that adults have become overly protective as much as the world is a much more evil place. What used to be harmless fun equates to real risks in the modern world. Halloween is not really a fun, safe night anymore for either adults or children.
Now our kids can no longer accept homemade treats. It could be unsafe. It’s necessary to check each individual piece of their candy for tampering. Someone could have added something to it to harm anyone who eats it. Now there is the serious danger and concern of abduction when our children are out for the night.
My desire for a more scary night like ‘it used to be’ is really a desire for a safer life. I long for a time when the world was good enough that we could allow children to be bad for an evening.
