So, here's what you do: Put on a costume or scary mask; get a bag, pillowcase, or plastic pumpkin; join up with some friends and knock on people's doors; when they come to the door, hold out your carrying apparatus and wait as they deposit small pieces of candy in them. Afterwards, you hang out with friends and eat lots and lots of candy until your stomach is full, throw down one more fun-size Milky Way for good measure and then convince your parents that you just aren't hungry; and no, it wasn't the candy that filled you up.
As you get older, your Halloween activities change and you may become aware of some things you might never have noticed otherwise, such as how many eggs are in the refrigerator or how much extra shaving cream and toilet paper may be lying around the house. Minor acts of rebellion and insubordination are enough. Peer pressure may cause you to do things you might otherwise not do, but nothing too destructive or dangerous.
Finally, you grow up. As Oct. 31 approaches each year, you wistfully recall those halcyon days of agonizing over what to dress up as and the gleeful anticipation of wearing suffocating rubber masks in order to look like your favorite monster, superhero or former president. You think about eating all that candy. Whatever you choose to recall, there is still a divide. You were a child then, but no longer. You now have different concerns and more grown-up things to do.
Sadly, it seems as if many in our country have never grown up. If you read the Nation section of Monday's New York Times, you would have noticed this opening line in a story, "Once more, with new depth of feeling, Detroit's leaders are pleading with its residents not to try to burn their city down on the night before Halloween." Last year, there were 182 arsons on the night before Halloween in Detroit, and as the Times reported, "Abandoned and occupied homes, parked cars, and piles of garbage and brush were torched. One blaze killed an 18-month-old girl, Destiny Wilson."
The evening before Halloween is a night known for its vandalism and defiance of civil order, not only in Detroit, but nationwide. What is wrong with our country and with ourselves that a city such as Detroit must plead with its residents just so that the city is not burned down? Isn't there something just a bit unsettling about knowing that the fire department had to water down abandoned houses and tow away over 1,400 cars in order to prevent rampant, runaway fires from engulfing the city?
If arson and destruction is the trick, there must be a treat. The positive side of this Devil's Night saga is the galvanizing influence that is has had on many of the city's residents. Fresh off the Million Man March and responding to exhortations from city leaders, many residents voluntarily patrolled their own neighborhoods and kept a watchful eye throughout the night. This is a large step towards reclaiming some ground from the evil-minded wrongdoers who wish to destroy and damage property.
Devil's Night activities, in Detroit and elsewhere, are but one battle in the oft-discussed "culture wars" currently being waged in the country. Many are quick to point out that these so-called culture wars are nothing more than a period of adjustment, and that our cultural/moral situation is no different than other times in the past. However, we must ask ourselves how we have moved from looking back nostalgically to the days of trick or treating and harmless pranks to yearning for the good old days when we did not have to worry about widespread arson and malicious destruction.
What's the difference anyway?
