DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: You may think I’m crazy, but I’m going to a Halloween party as a glamorous witch to run into this special guy and put my spell on him.

He’s co-hosting it with his housemate and it’s a big bash. You can’t get into this party unless you’re wearing a full-on costume. I don’t want to wear a complete Halloween mask, though, because I want him to recognize me and be attracted.

Can you give me any magical ideas?

— Need to Bewitch Him, West End

How do you defend something most people rarely see, but rely on every single day?

It’s called the rule of law — the principle that lets us speak freely, breathe clean air and live without fear of unchecked power. It’s the foundation of our democracy: an invisible framework that ensure disputes are judged impartially and that our rights will be protected.

Right now, it’s under threat.

Released this week, the latest World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, produced by a non-partisan, multi-disciplinary organization that independently evaluates 143 countries and jurisdictions worldwide, marks the eighth consecutive year of global decline for the rule of law — including in Canada.

When the internet first arrived in the mid-1990s, it screeched. Literally.

It screamed its way into our homes through the telephone lines, a metallic cry that sounded like the future forcing its way through. We waited through the static, convinced that life was about to get easier. People said it would save us time, let us work from home and give us more hours with our families.

No one mentioned that it would also move into our bedrooms, our pockets and our dreams. No one could have imagined that it would change how we fight, how we march, how we plead for justice. That the fight for justice itself would become a digital labyrinth where truth moves slowly and attention moves fast.

Back then, when a heroine from a popular early-2000s television show was dumped with nothing but a handwritten note, it became a cultural tragedy. There was nothing noble about writing your cowardice on a Post-it. A few years later, a company fired hundreds by email and it made national news. Today, we “quietly quit” through apps without blinking, edit our grief into reels, add the music the app suggests and call it closure.

Now that a tenuous Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal has been cobbled together, will the world community finally be able to expedite the prospects for peace and security in crisis-ridden Haiti?

There is reason to be cautiously optimistic about recent developments. While things can quickly go off the rails in Haiti, there does appear to be a growing international consensus on a viable path forward.

Let’s not forget that Haiti is a country in constant crisis, unrelenting internal violence and institutional decay. It is nothing short of a humanitarian catastrophe.

There is no credible government in place, and no legitimate national elections have been held for almost a decade. The current governing authority — the so-called Transitional Presidential Council — is thoroughly inept, ineffective and woefully inadequate.

“I couldn’t do what you did,” people would say.

And what we did, as police officers do every day, was take another routine call (as much as any call is “routine”).

Essentially, we were to remove an unwanted visitor who broke into his sister’s home and refused to leave.

Computer checks provided some information about him. Even after talking to her, there were no red flags, which isn’t unusual.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: This week I got a real kick in the face! It came from someone I thought was a great young friend. It turned out, she just liked hanging out with me for what she could get in terms of influential friends and invitations.

I thought this new friend liked charming old me for myself, but all she wanted was to jump over my head, to be buddies and hang out with bigger “players” in the charity world. She wanted to get deeply involved in this upcoming charity season’s dinners and parties, and obviously saw me as a person to use for that.

This week I heard what she really thinks of me, from a close female buddy. Ouch, that hurt! Now I’m really angry. I don’t want to let this young “friend” get away with using me and hurting me! What can I do?

— High Heel in My Face, Charleswood