What Goes On After Midnight

What goes on after midnight?

I suppose I can count myself lucky. I like to go out in the evening, a film, a play, a meal in a restaurant, a few drinks with friends. I like the city lights at night. Then I get home, into bed, and up the next day, put on the news and hear about all the awful things that happened in the city after I left it. I'm inclined to think, wasn't I very lucky not to fall into all that? But I still can't help wondering what goes on after midnight.

It's like as if the wolves come out with the moon and a violent, reckless, careless state of mind takes over. People do things they would never do in the light of day. People turn nasty - a different kind of nasty, a night nasty, a not-wanting-to-go-home nasty, an out-for-a-good-time-and-who-cares nasty. What you do in the night will be made known in the day, keeps ringing in my ears. I found that somewhere in the Gospel. But I can't blame the night. It's as easy to be caring in the night as it is in the day, maybe even more so. It's not the power of the night, but then, what is it? Is it sin? But whose sin?

What have we done to make people not want to go home? What have we done in our society to make people so careless about life, their own and the lives of others? Who's setting the pace? Who's calling the shots? Who's benefiting from all of this? Is anybody benefiting?... That's what I'm wondering...... Well, really nobody at all is benefiting.