We just returned from taking the children out trick or treating. As I have just finished inspecting my son the pirate's booty I wanted to riff off of the comments David made about Halloween at Treppenwitz .
In it David writes about a loss of innocence that accompanied the holiday as more and more parents inspected the loot from the night's haul as well as that more children were chaperoned by their parents.
It made me think about things and what has happened and I have a couple of thoughts to share about whether we have lost our innocence. I think that nostalgia always makes us wax sentimental about the past. Sometimes this leads to our viewing things through rose-colored glasses and sometimes it is accurate.
In effect I think what happens here is that I am going to straddle the fence somewhat. I think that the monsters of the night have always been here. If you read through old newspaper clippings you find horror stories of children who were raped and murdered, same a
"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." — Groucho Marx