Halloween.
I am torn between thinking that the holiday is great and despising this time of year as a time when people have a ready-made-excuse to be something they know they're not. Do you really enjoy being something you're not? Do you really want to change and be so different?
I guess on one hand, it could be something very good and be a stepping-stool to a knew life and even a sort of spiritual rebirth of sorts. Then again, I don't think I've ever seen too many "saint" costumes or little Noah or Moseses running around town knocking on doors.
Maybe I've just given myself a great "righteous costume" and make two big styrofoam tablets and run around as a prophet. But even saying that, I wonder if that isn't getting sacreligous bordering on blasphemy... I just don't know how I feel about it.
What I am saying is that: even all those good moms that think they're going to side-step the whole issue of "evil" and have their kids dress-up as mystical or fantastical figures, aren't they indulging in the same exact thing, but kidding themselves into thinking that they're not? I mean, isn't even dressing up as the "best" costume the same as dressing up as an evil thing? I guess not, but at the best, I think you are only choosing to dress up as the lesser-of-two-evils, which is still choosing "evil".
Just stay home, I say, and play games as a family and tell stories (not of the devil or ghosts or witches or goblins though...), and, oh yes, eat all sorts of candy. It doesn't have to be Halloween candy, but is just the anyday candy that you could buy any time of year (regardles of what is on the candy or what it's oftentimes used for--it's just innocent sugar!).
In fact, play How to host a Murder--as you would play "Clue" or chess (you even "kill" knights and rooks in chess, but that's just part of the game). Man, don't go overboard and condemn everything as being evil... Just have fun and enjoy October 31 regardless of the pagan-evil-doings going on around you.
JPS
I liked your post. I think Halloween can be harmless fun if one does not focus on the evil. We will be trick-or-treating.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts. Trick or Treating is a rite of passage, even it's it's born of the culture. Plus, it's crazy fun, and you get a nice variety of candy. I see nothing wrong with dressing up as something scary or as you say "Evil." It's rare that one of those scary or evil costumes come off as such anyway. It's just fun. Fake blood? Light Sabers? Horns? Wings? Fun.
ReplyDeleteI saw a little Moses tonight when I was trick or treating with the kids. He grabbed Jane's candy and ran.
ReplyDeleteOk, not really, but that would be funny.