new age

halloween is now every different from when we were kids. remember how we used to go door to door collecting mounds and pounds of candy? then we would go to someone's house and divy it up into piles and maybe trade some wit each other. there would also be a tiny little pile of 'suspicious' candy. we had heard the stories: razor blades in apples, poisoned candy, murderers luring kids into their homes... but it wasn't a real fear for us. we weren't even all that careful when inspecting the candy. we only disgarded the stuff that had obviously been opened beforehand. we weren't so much worried about poison as we were about germs and other cooties, however.

these days it's totally different. not many kids go around the neighborhoods. their parents take them to shopping malls and other plazas where the kids get candy from retail establishments. and yes, it's safer. after all, wat are the chances that ralph's is going to distribute poisoned candy? but it's also not as fun. it was fun going around to houses. seeing which ones went all out wit their decorations. sometimes there would be someone in costume hiding behind the bushes, waiting to jump out and scare the kids, but it was all in good fun. these days it's seems that it's simply too dangerous to let your kids walk around, even supervised, their well known neighborhood depending on the good will of the locals.

but it's only been 10 to 20 years since we were kids. see how things have changed... so how will things be for our kids, who, in another 10 to 30 from now, will be the ones trick or treating?