The Mental Dismemberment of Children

This past Halloween I had an opportunity to take part in an activity that I haven’t done in a couple of decades- hand out candy to the children on Beggers Night.

It was fun to see the creative costumes. Some of beautiful princesses; others, usually the boys, dressed as scary monsters from movies. The scariest was, hands down, a young man who dressed up as Michael Meyers from the Halloween movies. Even the other kids wanted to stay clear of him. He had it down so well, the jump suit, the walk. He said nothing as he approached, we carefully put the goodies in his bag.

A few of the kids simply wore outfits to look like bums or super heroes. I remember doing similar things as I prepared to rush the neighborhood in a contest to see how much I could collect. It was a good time with fine memories that rushed back as each new batch of kids came up with their open bags yelling “Trick or Treat!”

My main attention, however, was on the little children. So innocent. Some not really sure why their parents were encouraging them to approach these strangers. And why were they giving out candy? But always, with their parent’s encouragement they accepted and said “tank too.” So sweet. They made you want to huge them.

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