Introduction:

I remember neighborhood parties, do you? In my neighborhood as a youth, we knew each other, the kids played and argued together. Parents looked out for all the kids. Hitchhiking was safe. 

Halloween was cause for big neighborhood events, as was Independence Day. The Schumacher family would occasionally hold recitals, with family members playing different instruments. Dads would tolerate the kids shoveling snow back onto the road from snowy lawns when the sledding hill was cleared by the plows. 

The first crack, the first disturbance in the force, came when we all heard and read about people hiding things like needles and razor blades in the kids’ candy. I was too young to understand the concept of random evil, so I just went along with it as my candy was inspected before I was allowed to chomp down.

Working to put kids at risk of injury as they bite into a free apple or Fifth Avenue candy bar is an act of random evil. There is no purpose, no point other than injuring an unknown child, and being happy about it if you are lucky enough to read about the damage you caused in the paper. 

The evil being perpetrated in the world today is not at all random; it is focused and determined, with specific people and groups being targeted and those doing the targeting.

That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode.

Continuing:

Before we get into the far greater dangers that permeate today’s world, come back with me to simpler times, some of which are as recent as the early 2000s. I grew up, well started growing up, for almost 16 years in Strafford Village, PA, a town so small that it did not have its own post office. Chris, the white haired taxi driver, worked part time. He drove an all black four door sedan, wore a black uniform complete with a black tie and cap. Also black. He was polite and always on time. The Uber of the day. Dr. Kay, our family primary care physician, lived up a small hill from our house, with an attached complete office. His daughter, Linda, was in my same grade. The podiatrist that I saw one summer had his home office w-a-y across the open field the kids used for baseball–kinda like deep right field.

Independence Day was a major event. Children would enter the kids parade, often wearing homemade costumes, vying for prizes and recognition. Organized, well, semi-organized, games and feasting would follow. The Dads would handle the games, while the Moms dealt with the food. One year, one of the games included having blindfolded Dads line up to walk about 15 yards to reach out and identify their sons. The other boys and I were lined up directly across from the line of Dads, in the same order. My Dad was hesitant in how he walked, and seemed embarrassed at being the last to make the correct ID. My heart was bursting with the desire to tell him that I did not care at all about the results, that I was just wildly proud to be there with him. But I did not find the words. To this day, I wish that I had. Don’t miss those opportunities in your life.

Halloween was also a big deal. Despite the often freezing temperatures at that time of year in Pennsylvania, kids mobbed the streets. It was not at all uncommon for a group of kids to stand outside the home of a reluctant trick or treater to encourage him to come out and join in the fun. Yes, the dentist gave out toothbrushes, but his neighbor made up for it by giving out money. 

Fast forward to San Mateo, CA in the early 2000s. The Independence Day parties were fun, but only a few homes participated. For a couple years, the New Year’s Eve parties were epic. We would go from home to home for the various stages of dinner, and if anyone imbibed more than they could handle, they could roll 20 yards downhill and be home. The men wore tuxes, and the ladies cocktail dresses. Save for one guy who dressed up as Saddam Hussein–and was a dead ringer. Saddam’s doppelganger. 

Gradually, the neighborhood changed. The parties stopped;...