J. Davy Crockett III

When is a fact not a fact? Can reality be set aside or ignored? Abraham Lincoln, who was known for using homespun anecdotes to make effective points, is said to have once asked a critic, “How many legs does a dog have if you count his tail as a leg?” “Well,” the man said, “In that case, five legs.” “No,” Lincoln replied, “Only four! Saying that a dog’s tail is a leg does not make it a leg.” Such simple yet profound wisdom seems lost on much of society today.

There is a malevolent spirit that is responsible for the cascade of evil in neighborhoods and nations—and it is always recruiting. Any doubt of this fact was shattered recently when an evening news report showed men dressed as women in bizarre, clown-like costumes, cavorting in front of young children at a school function with many parents present. These deviant individuals were prancing about with lewd sexual gyrations while singing or mouthing bawdy lyrics and sexual innuendos in a setting with music and laughter in front of children younger than ten years old!

The “Day of the Dead” is looming, with all the macabre symbolism of the season. I usually enjoy my daily walk through my residential neighborhood, but in the past few days the scene has changed as giant spiderwebs and partially buried skeletons appear on manicured lawns. Leering skulls with lighted eye sockets peer from simulated graveyards, and a variety of monsters in various stages of decay, some with creepy sound effects, set the tone for the October 31 celebration of “Hallowe’en.”