There are so many things to be scared of this Halloween. Huge fires just frightened us out of our complacency (again), and perhaps even scarier – a clergy friend told me today that in San Diego, they can’t decide whether or not to “count” the illegal crosser-overs who burned in the washes near the border. There are children of God in the world who are not worth counting among the dead? Can that be so?
It is also frightening to me that France and the US have dismissed a finding by the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog Mohammed ElBaradei that there is no evidence of Iran building a bomb. I wonder about motives for this dismissal – I wonder how long this game will be played, and who will pay. I am frightened that the game of exchanging fighting words is intended to escalate to a full-out brawl before Bush and Cheney leave office. There are so many of us trying to catch up on understanding one another’s guiding values – look, for example, at this letter “A Common Word” signed by 138 noted Muslim clerics, theologians, and academics. It highlights significant common ground between the two faiths and also underscores the extent of the healing and illumination that are still required if we are to avoid allowing our traditions to continue to support a clash of armies. I found it through Progressive Christians Uniting. It is only one example of many efforts toward peacemaking. We are not called to Holy War – we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. It’s so much harder to do, apparently, than lining up armies – so let’s persevere.
Closer to home, I am truly scared that we are raising kids who glorify war and violence – who will be shaped emotionally not by efforts to understand one another, but by violent video games and horror movies. At youth group the other night, kids as young as 9 were talking about Saw IV and Friday the 13th. If you haven’t been paying attention, I want desperately to remind you that hundreds of studies on the effects of screen violence on children and teenagers have found that that through them kids become numb to the horror of violence; they gradually accept it as a way to solve problems; and they imitate what they see on the screen. Get it? Your kids are not watching like you watch – setting aside what is fantasy from what is not. Their values are still being formed, so they are usually not even watching with a view as to what is right and good and what is wrong and bad. They are taking it all in and letting it shape their brains and hearts.
I dropped in on Miss Anita’s preschool class yesterday. They were all up from their naps, drinking juice and eating goldfish, having little 3-year-old conversations around the table. They all had costumes for Halloween, they said – 3 Disney princesses, some superheroes and a bat. It’s really all about the candy and the outfits for them, of course. Any sort of wondering about the dark part of Halloween comes later. I would hope it would be MUCH later – not just 6 years later.
And once they do engage the dark side of Halloween, I would hope it’s not because they want to glorify the darkness, but mock it –because we know that God shines light into the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5). Through Jesus, we are the light of the world, too. Teach your children to be light – don’t let them be covered by darkness. Please – monitor what they are watching and the games they are playing. Please – engage them with questions that make them think about what they have seen. Please. I’m so scared.
