Our neighbor Doris came by this morning with the bad news. Someone stole her Halloween decorations. She will put out her holiday displays no more.

This is a tragedy of neighborhood proportions. Every Halloween and Christmas, Doris, who is somewhere well beyond 80, puts out lovely displays. She has a perfect touch – modest but charming, never overwhelming, a gift to us all.

As evils go, this is a modest affair. And it’s worth remembering that the overwhelming majority of people in our community have never stolen Doris’s decorations. Most people are not bad. But that makes me no less sad at the prospect that we may never thrill to Doris’s holiday magic again.