I hear that change is good.
But I fear that there is a change happening right in front of us that worries me;
the end of Halloween as we know it.
You see, I grew up in the days when we use to be able to pray in schools, and Christmas parties weren't
called Holiday parties, and we were allowed to go trick or treating without worry or care. But it looks
like those days seem to be long gone.
You see...I was one of six kids that grew up in a small house north of the river, in Kansas City, Missouri,
with not a whole lot of my own. I wasn't deprived, but when you don't have much of your own, you learn to
appreciate the little things that others take for granted. Some of my favorite memories are of times that
usually happened a couple of weeks before Halloween.
My parents would dig deep in the back of one of our closets and pull out a couple of boxes that were
filled with Halloween decor. All year I anticipated this ritual and when it finally came, I knew it was
only a matter of days before I was able to don my new costume and hit the streets with an empty bag trying
to hit every house I possibly could before I had to report back home. I spent hours planning my route as to
not waste any time. I wanted to make sure that I hit the streets of the houses that had the most porch lights
on and I always remembered what houses gave out the good candy from the year before and hit those
streets first so they didn't run out of candy on me. After what seemed like minutes, (but I'm sure was
actually hours) I would come running through the front door, throwing my mask on the couch and then
flopping down on the living room rug. I would dump my candy in a big pile, and start rummaging through it,
putting it in piles as to what I liked and didn't like. Once done, I would feel like I had just won the
lottery or hit a home run in the world series.
As I got older, my parents started hearing about the scares on the news about razor blades in candy
bars and glass broken up in popcorn balls. It got to the point that they wanted to check all the candy
out before I got to eat any of it, even though I couldn't imagine who in my neighborhood would
possibly do something like that.
Well, time went on and I got older and before long I was married and had children of my own. By now,
it was the mid to late 80's, and when it can time for them to go trick or treating, I didn't think twice
about it. My wife would spend hours making their costumes and when the time finally arrived, we would
take turns taking them out (so one of us was home to hand out candy). As the years started to roll by
I noticed that we were getting less and less trick or treaters every year. It wasn't because we were
handing out the bad candy, in fact it seemed like every year we would upgrade the type of candy that
we bought. And still, less trick or treaters showed. As the kids became fewer and fewer, I noticed that
fewer and fewer neighbors on the block were handing out candy, and before long there were only
2 or 3 porch lights besides ours where neighbor were handing out candy.
So, what happened?
Where did all the kids go?
Well, from the best of my knowledge, It looks like we are now in a society that is moving at such a
fast pace that our kids are suffering for it. Instead of us spending alot of time planning and sewing
our kids costumes with them, we can run to Wal-mart the day before Halloween and buy a cheap $15
disposable costume in 15 minutes and be done with it. And we don't have to worry about sending our
precious children out at night where they may get hurt or worry about something happing to them,
when we can throw them in a car and run to the local mall and have them trick or treat there for
about 30 minutes and be back home in time for supper.
And to this I only have one thing to say to you parents...
bahh...halloween-hum-bug
What are you thinking?
Do you really think that your kids are having as much fun walking from store to store in a lighted mall
as they would have strolling the streets in the mood-setting dark nights? Roaming up and down the
streets of the neighborhood with the October wind blowing through the treetops and the sounds of a
Halloween soundtrack playing from someone's garage up the street?
There is an awful lot of us that are out there buying up candy by the sackfuls to hand out to all those
little goblins that we look forward to seeing every year. And oh, what a disappointment when they don't
show. Not only is it sad to see Halloween dying the way that we remember it, but think about all the old
people and shut-ins that don't get visitors but once a year. There was an old woman that lived up the
street from us when I was a kid that looked so forward to seeing us; that when we showed up, she would
have her camera out ready to take a picture of us in that year's costume. It would have broke her heart
not to have company on that one special day that gave her time to spend getting to know who her
neighbors were. Not only that, but your children and yourselves as well get to see who your neighbors
are. You get to meet the people that you usually only pass on the way to work in the mornings, and
you will probably make the day of some old man or woman that is dying for company, if even for a few
minutes. Don't take this tradition away from the future generations that follow us. Help me keep this
holiday alive for the youth. Statistics show that Halloween is second only to christmas as far as sales
goes. What they don't tell you is that most of the sales are the young adults that are buying things
for themselves, for their own Halloween parties and get-togethers and enjoyment, not for the youth.
Halloween has become a holiday for the older crowds to enjoy, putting our youngsters at the back
of the line.
Is this a result of these kids not getting
to enjoy Halloween the way we did as kids?
This is fine, but let us not forget our kids. Now don't get me wrong, I am not a Satan-worshipper or a
demented old man in some cult. In fact, I do believe in God and my wife and I have raised our kids very
religiously. But you have to know that kids will be kids, and teaching them the difference between
what is real and what is fun is what counts. Halloween is a time of year for them to be somebody or
something different and have fun with it. It is the one time that they can act silly and still be normal.
It is the one time that they can see that it is okay to be different. Let's not deprive them of that.
So let's all turn our porchlights back on
and buy up some candy bars
and get ready to watch the monsters
walking up the streets, and make them
feel appreciated and proud of their costumes.
Once you hear you kids saying
trick or treat to the Witch sitting
in her garage or the mummy sitting
on the steps of his house; you'll know
this is alot better than some shopping mall!
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