Nov 1, 2005

don't save us from the flames

man, what happened to halloween?

my childhood memories were nothing but good times -- dressing up like a goof, hanging out with friends, lots of free candy -- just a whole night of sugar filled adventure.

it seems there just aren't as many kids out nowadays though, i'm not sure if its just my neighbourhood or what, but trick-or-treating doesn't seem nearly as popular as it used to be. maybe the kids are all inside, playing video games.

on the other hand, i did notice that most of the kids i saw out were being driven from house to house by their parents.

come on.

is that really necessary? are you so lazy that you don't want to walk to your neighbours with your child? you feel the need to idle your car for an hour while you drive a grand total of two clicks? lazy bastards. i vow never to drive my child trick-or-treating unless i live in the boonies or something, and even then i might still just walk with them.

what's with our society's obsession with safety? with sheltering children from reality? safe parks, safe toys, safe foods, safe sports, safe everything.

how are they suppose to learn anything about the world if we just protect them all the time? aren't we just ill-preparing them for a world that (to put it mildly) isn't all that safe and cozy?

let them scrape some knees. let them go exploring their neighbourhood on their own. let them use some imagination to create their own worlds, instead of providing everything for them because we thinks its in their best interest. let kids be kids man.

halloween used to be exciting because it was like a treasure hunt. what candy did i get? who was dressed as what? can we scare people? can we find the house that gives the best loot? which street has the most generous people? who should we egg?

i hate talking about "back when i was a kid", but gosh darn it! it just had to be said.

i'm so glad i wasn't born any later, or i'd have been stuck with crappy plastic parks and healthy granola bar treats for halloween.

ew.

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