NOVEMBER EDITORIAL

 

All Hallow's Eve has passed again. Perhaps for the last time, we have seen our darkened streets filled with children dressed in costumes wandering from house to house yelling, "Tricks or Treats!" It is not that danger lurks behind every corner, which leads me to this conclusion, but rather that the idea of ghosts and goblins being frightening is laughable.

Toronto celebrated Hallowe'en a little early this year when a rampage of shootings on Sunday, October 26, 2002 resulted in four deaths in the city. This came on the tail-end of the Washington sniper case. One of those Maryland victims was a bus driver, sitting on the step of the bus having a smoke and a coffee at the end of the route. That hits a little too close to home.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, relatives are mourning the senseless deaths (by poison gas) of hundreds of hostages held in a theatre by Chechen rebels who were demanding an end to the brutal war of attrition in their homeland. Apparently the Russian Government thought it made sense to kill them all and let God sort them out!

The American Government seems bent on pursuing its 'War on Terrorism' by escalating their ill-planned and loosely defined conflict into an all-out war against a sovereign state (Iraq). The Israelis continue to kill the Palestinians and vice-versa.

And now we near Rememberance Day, wondering if we will see another 9/11 before 11/11 arrives. Will airplanes crash into shopping centers? Will Nuclear Plants be targeted? Will we ever again live in a world that is sane, civilized and less terrifying than made-up stories of spooks and spectres? The world, in which we live, has become a very scary place.

Which witch is which? Ah, Boo, yourself!

Your comments on the above editorial are welcome!
Page created by : James Richard Hughes

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Changes last made  October, 2002

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