To the editor:

When I am rocking my four-year-old son at 1 a.m., as he sobs and shakes with fear, I feel the intensity of an angry animal who tries to protect her child. Earlier that day, I drove my son to Target from Cazenovia, out Route 92. He was so excited to pick out his Halloween costume for trick-or-treat.

The drive was a beautiful Fall day and my son had a lot to say about his pre-school and about how much candy he thought he would get for trick-or-treat. But, as we passed a horrific display of “Halloween” decor: a dummy’s bloody head, severed from its body by an executioner, a skeleton in an upright coffin, and a bloody guillotine, I saw my son’s face fall into fear and confusion. His shaky voice asked, “Mama, why is that man’s head on the ground? Why is that bloody? Why is that man hurting the other person?” I tried to reassure him that what he saw was fake and someone’s idea of fun decor.

The more I thought about it, and the more fearful tears I wiped from my son’s eyes, as he continued to reference that scene for days, the more upset I got about how acceptable it has become to decorate our lawns with violent, bloody scenes that people have no choice but to see, as they pass by. With the reality of horrific violence constantly occurring throughout the world, how can we make a joke of it? How can we think that is appropriate decor for a holiday that celebrates our ancestors and those who have passed on before us?

Also, the more I thought about it, I realized the perversity of the permissiveness of violent images around Halloween. Would I be allowed to display a beautiful scene of a naked couple copulating in my front yard on Valentine’s Day? A scene that shows an ultimate expression of love and human connection? Absolutely not. That would be “obscene.”

So please reconsider your disgustingly violent scenes and think about the people who are exposed to your bloody front yards, especially young children who can’t navigate reality as well as an adult, and ask yourself: Am I decorating this way because I think this is funny? Because if you don’t edit your front yards, you become responsible for nightmares and tears. Is that a “trick” you can stomach?

Rachelann Lopp Copland

Cazenovia