I am so glad that Halloween is over. I find it a strange and unusual holiday. I don’t understand why children roam the streets dressed up and knock on strangers’ doors to receive sweets. If you had adults offering sweets to children any other day of the year they would swiftly gain a reputation for being perverted or at least highly suspect. Why is it that Halloween justifies adults dressing up to mask their true identity, handing sweets (which could be laced with poison or horse tranquiliser) to children?
I grew up on a main road so community spirit was all but a figment of my imagination, however at my grandparents’ home there really was a sense of pride in their street. Neighbours helped each other, knew each other and were welcoming. Head back to this street fifteen years on and everyone has barricaded their front doors. When did it become old fashioned to be neighbourly?
With the media depicting the crime levels, the terrorist activities, the children being kidnapped and the murders, everyone is becoming more fearful of each other and prefers to keep to themselves. Even when crime rates have been declining in some areas, we are led to believe that our country is unsafe. Ask yourself this: is the city you live nearby a safe place to go? (most people I ask say yes) Now what do you think of [insert another city you have not visited] and the crime rate there? Chances are most people are fed enough stories to believe that they got lucky with their location.
I was recently asked whether I thought Birmingham was safe and having worked for the Police there I knew it was. My response was “of course is it”. Then I got asked “do you think Liverpool is safe?” and the first thing that came to mind was my friend saying to avoid driving. He said that if I parked my car I’d find it was sat on bricks and minus four wheels, so my response to is Liverpool safe? “Hell it can’t be as safe”.
After World War 2 people were encouraged to work as a unit. It was us (our country not city) working towards a better future. Compare it to how we think now, how we all dislike the politicians, the banking system yet trust what we hear from the media. We are all under lock and key. This is why Halloween just seems like it should be called “Dodgy looking adults day” to me. It seems like an opportunity for bad minded individuals to dress up and offer drugged laced sweets to naive children. To be fair though, these kids today are so smart, I bet they are the ones drugging the adults and breaking into their houses moments later. That’s the way the world will be.
Who Likes To Moan? 