WEB POSTED 11-09-2000

Attention: All fools

No, I haven�t lost it. I know that the day generally recognized as ALL FOOLS� DAY occurs in April. However, I doubt very seriously that you will find nearly as many fools in action on that Spring day as there were on what is called "Hallowe�en". And the fools to which I am referring are not the innocent children who were out "trickin� and treatin�," but their parents and guardians who encouraged them to participate in this pagan ritual. "Trick or Treat" has become increasingly dangerous over the years, as cruel pranksters have put poison, glass and other harmful objects and substances in the "treats." Thus, some parents accompany their children on the nonsensical quest. But because it was so cold here in Chicago, I saw some sorry parents cruising along in their heated cars while their children rang doorbells.

But more sinister than the ignorant practices are their roots, origins and meanings. The suffix "e�en" like the term "eve" refers to the day before an important holiday, i.e. "Christmas Eve, New Year�s Eve" etc. But here we have millions of people celebrating "All Hallows Eve" without the slightest idea of what "All Hallows Day" is all about. It was a day established to honor all the Saints who have lived and died, and is therefore known today as "All Saints� Day; at least to those few who know about it at all, since it has been almost totally eclipsed by "Hallowe�en." This may have been one of the things to which Shakespeare was referring in JULIUS CAESAR when he wrote, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."

As this day of devil-worship subsides, all the merchants are gearing up for the next one�Christmas! Now, don�t say I�m blaspheming. If that day is dedicated to Jesus, who is the big fat dude in the red suit who occupies center stage? When the Dutch Jews, who didn�t even believe in Jesus, first attempted to institute the celebration of Saint Nicholas in the United States, all of the states passed laws forbidding it. Celebrate his birth day, and you went to jail. One by one the states were brought out of their position�Massachusetts was the last state to fall�and Ole St. Nick was firmly established in the USA. Incidentally, look up the name "Nick" in Webster�s Unabridged Dictionary.

Before we can recover financially from the lie about flying reindeer, we are digging in our pockets in response to the celebration of brightly colored eggs laid by the Easter Bunny, a mammal�a species which only gives live birth.

The normal response to such criticism is: "I don�t believe in all that. I just do it for the children."

Are you doing it for the children, or TO the children? As they grow up, they learn that you lied to them about reindeer flying (sorry, but a lie is a lie, no matter how little or white). You lied about the bunny and the eggs. So when you see your alcoholic or drug addicted children, or hardened criminals that you gave birth to and raised, jailed, injured or killed while engaged in criminal acts, you often reflect on the fact that you tried to teach them against such deviant behavior. And you did! But all the time you were teaching them, they were thinking, quite logically, why should they believe you, when you�ve been lying to them all their lives?

(Reprinted by request from Vo. 16, No. 3.)