It rained buckets the day before. And the dark skies remained all through Halloween. But in spite of menacing clouds and a steady annoying drizzle, children came out in droves for trick or treat.

Every year, traffic in our village gets impossibly snarled from 3 p.m. onward. This time it was peaceful and orderly. The lines were long. But we had enough of the gooey stuff to last until Christmas.

Although my casita is quite a way from the street, I managed to watch the parade of little people. I love to see them all dressed and made up as princesses, fairies, superheroes, ghosts and goblins. Some came under huge umbrellas held by parents or yayas. The littlest ones were carried while toddlers toddled along on their door-to-door mission, carrying baskets ready to be filled with goodies.

The sun stayed behind the clouds but it was hot and the humidity was the kind that made you want to beg for a refreshing downpour or maybe a token breeze. But the kids were undeterred and gamely trudged along, their excited chatter audible even from several houses away. They didn’t seem to mind the sticky air at all.

I wished for more rain that night hoping it would discourage the “undesirables” that they say crawl out of the shadows after sundown. We were warned about dubious characters on the prowl.

These are uncertain times and it is risky to be casual or careless about security. News about a prison escape in Laguna did nothing to ease my fears.

So I decided not to entertain late night trick-or-treaters this year. We gave the last handful of candy to a little ninja, and then I had the gate bolted, just in case.

More clouds

As I gave instructions for a “lockdown,” I thought about that bygone era when we all felt safe sleeping with our windows wide open and never worried about locking the doors.

That was before the war. It was a gracious and gentle time.

It hurts to remember how good it was then. And I can’t help grieving over the way things are today and how dangerous life has become. I am not talking only about dangers that lurk in the street. There is darkness even in the high places.

This is true the world over. It is each one for himself. Our voracious appetite for wealth, power and status has extinguished our better lights.

Life is cheap. Killing has become a humdrum everyday occurrence. No one keeps count anymore. We watch as crimes are committed and look the other way.

The world teeters on the brink of extinction.

We think nothing of destroying someone’s good name to advance our own ambitions.

We buy into perverted ideas and accept brazen lies. We have grown calloused to coarse and obscene language. We are unaffected, beyond shocking. No one cringes anymore. Vulgarity is in style. Maybe a few cover their faces in shame, but they remain silent.

Our standards have sunk to an all time low. Why is it that the closer we get to the gutter the more famous we become? We make headlines; get free airtime and our sound bites go viral.

Are we players or mere spectators in this disgusting new scenario? Have we contributed in any way to this dismal state of affairs?

Again I ask: What has become of us? And what has happened to our world? And pray tell me, what will it take to turn us around?

My wise old friend chuckles at my despair. He hums a few bars of a Dionne Warwick hit. He tells me that “what the world needs now” is a new and fresh infusion of love, the real kind, that all-inclusive warm embrace of acceptance one for the other, despite our differences, without animosity or prejudice.

“It is the kind of love that allows for mistakes and forgives without conditions. It is not a vacant mushy promise on a greeting card, nor is it a silly emoticon with soaring beating red hearts.”

My friend calls it the “Jesus kind of love.”

“It is patient, enduring. It waits. It does not keep score of offenses. It lifts you up when you stumble, and keeps you steady when you try again, and again.”

And will this love stop the downward spiral we are caught in? My friend believes it will.

I am not happy. I expected him to rant with me, get agitated, do something.

Instead he calmly quotes Martin Luther King. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Okay, I think I get it.

One bright spot

In today’s greedy dog-eat-dog world, this story about J.K. Rowling, billionaire author of the incredibly successful “Harry Potter” series, hits a bright spot.

Rowling was once named by Forbes as the first person ever to become a $ billionaire by writing books. A few years later she was taken off the billionaire roster, also by Forbes. The reason she lost her “rich list” status was that she had given $160 million in charitable donations.

Her explanation: “You have a moral responsibility when you’ve been given far more than you need, to do wise things with it and give intelligently.”

Luke 12:48 comes to mind. “To whom much is given, much is required.”