Anyone for some Jack O’Lantern Soup?

Jack-O-Lantern

It’s that time of year again… Another day when elderly and frail people up and down the land are sitting in trepidation, fearful of the onset of darkness as the day draws to an early close. But on this occasion, despite the lengthening of the evenings, (unusually) it’s nothing to do with a fear of alcohol fuelled anti-social behaviour, although that may well play it’s part. No, tonight the less robust in our society, never mind the rest of us, are to be descended upon by hoards of menacing kids.

Many a portcullis of our humble domestic castles right across the land will be subjected to incessant hammering, that or at the very least, some constant and heavy leaning upon the bell push. But all to what avail as we answer this call of undoubted urgency? As we throw wide open our welcoming gates, it is difficult to predict what we will be confronted with, despite some hopeful expectations.

On Trick-or-treat night we can be met with anything… From the cute little child (accompanied by Mommy) dressed in (often expensive) carefully thought out appropriate seasonal attire of the day. A shy child sporting a happy smile whilst almost singing “Trick-or-Treat” in a squeaky trill but friendly innocent voice. And all with the best (mainly American) traditions of the custom in mind.

Trick-or-treating: a customary practice for children on Halloween in many countries. Children in costumes travel from house to house in order to ask for treats such as candy (or, in some cultures, money) with the question “Trick or treat?”. The “trick” is a (usually idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. In North America, trick or treat has been a customary Halloween tradition since at least the late 1950s… (Wikipedia.org)

At the opposite extreme we are met with a group of two or three feckless spotty thugs dressed in bin liners, always assuming they’ve actually bothered to venture anywhere near the spirit of the event. They may grunt the required words but when challenged on the meaning they smugly answer; ”gi us sum stuff mate or we’ll mash y’ur motor!”

Before the 1980s, the phrase “trick-or-treat” was little known in the United Kingdom… Since the 80s usage of the phrase has become more widespread, but is often viewed as an exotic and unwelcome commercialised import, with the BBC referring to it as “the Japanese knotweed of festivals” and “Making demands with menaces”. Very often, the phrase “trick-or-treat” is simply said and the revellers offered sweets, with the choice of a trick or a treat having been largely discarded…(Wikipedia.org)

It’s hardly any wonder that according to the findings of a recent UK survey; ”around a fifth of people are in favour of a ban on trick or treating” this year (The Press Association). Having said that, I suspect the suggested link between the riots of last August and Trick-or-Treat, as mentioned in the survey is to say the very least, somewhat tenuous!

Suffice it to say, my particular gourd won’t be carved into some ornate grotesque source of light… Anyone for a warming bowl of spicey roasted pumpkin soup?

Related articles

• What I Know About Halloween and What it Means to Me (gwendolynndedanaan.wordpress.com)
• Trick or Treat, Sick or Sweet? (4mothers1blog.wordpress.com)
• 13 Things You Might Not Know About Halloween (ladypunch1.wordpress.com)
• Halloween…Trick or Treat?? (virtualdivadiary.wordpress.com)

Our Social Scrap Heap Challenge!

Image via Flickr

The older one gets, especially when you’ve taken any notice of the issues around you (outside of your own self-interested microcosm that is), and posses some reasonable grasp upon history the more you notice; many of the social and financial problems we endure today are born out of the way in which we attempt to manage them. You see very little is truly new or innovative, despite what the go-getter Dilberts would have you believe.

We spend our time trying to reinvent the wheel, think of some fancy title for that ‘new’ wheel, then dress it up with some clever marketing. Media and PR campaigns abound to hail our ‘strategic visions’ or ’proactive initiatives’ across all business sectors, public and private.

We may well be ‘excited about working with new partners’ and it will be better this time because ‘lessons have been learned’ but in reality, most of this tosh is simply hot air and fancy hype for the same ol’ same ol’ business as usual. The only difference is that this time around; leaders and managers are attempting to turn their particular ’new’ wheel faster with less force, with little cognisance or application of all those previous lessons!

We need some financial Untouchables: The central irony of financial crisis is that while it is caused by too much confidence, too much borrowing and lending and too much spending, it can only be resolved with more confidence, more borrowing and lending, and more spending…This circularity is clearly barking. (Read more)

Our current financial climate is obviously having profoundly negative impacts upon society but is this the continued turn of another wheel? Earlier this year John Gray, a British philosopher notable for being one of the only public intellectuals to anticipate the economic collapse of 2008, told The Big Think that “boom times are deceptive because history is cyclical.”

Is History Cyclical? – History has never been steadily cumulative or if it has, it has been for periods or 5 or 10 or 15 or at most 20 years, and then some kind of great punctuation occurs and a lot of the wealth you thought you had vanishes up in smoke before your eyes…(Read more)

Which brings me nicely to that other great cyclic catastrophe – our Criminal Justice System. Although not the prefered blog brew of many, particularly those whose failures are being exposed ad torn apart, the author of the Police Inspector Blog usually has an informed and descriptive explanation on the failings.

Metal Theft – the real story SHOCK! …This is usually how it goes; guilty plea, defendant in a borrowed suit looking all contrite with a new haircut and an even newer story about disabled mothers, sick children and drug dependency. A community sentence, or such a small sentence that by the time ‘time spent on remand’ and all the various discounts are applied it’s no time at all. The defendant will be out within a few months and back to stealing metal again…(Read more)

We need some serious and real ’new’ thinking… Without all the usual self-interest, self-importance and self-promotion that usually accompanies current political and business leadership. If it doesn’t materialise soon, many of us are destined for the social scrap heap of life!

Related articles

• Is History Cyclical? (bigthink.com)