Day: October 31, 2012

I always loved Halloween as a kid.

The fun and excitement of dressing up, waiting anxiously for the sun to set then I was set free in the neighborhood with my friends.

The goal was to get as much junk food as we could and to do that we went to as many houses as we could in ever widening circles from our own block. We’d hit the 7-Eleven at the mid point for an Icee because back in the day, the costumes didn’t have a lot of ventilation.

The 7-Eleven folks gave out free samples and that one day a year… We could take anything from the candy aisle for free.

I clearly remember those early evenings and feeling so damn safe. The worst thing we had to worry about was a real ghost or monster coming up out of one of the swamps.

Then sometime around the time I was eight it all started to change.

I can’t even remember how at first, it was just that there was a bit more suspicion, an undercurrent of mistrust and we kids picked up on it. 

Our parents began restricting our once a year, after dark adventures favoring instead more controlled activities. 

Slowly, Halloween changed… 

The community I live in is for the most part a small and safe little town. Even here there aren’t’ any kids knocking on doors. 

Everyone goes to the center of town for a Safe halloween event sponsored by the local businesses and Chamber of Commerce.

It’s neat, but has become renown so that instead of just folks from the local community we’re getting people from communities as much as 20 miles away.

Such is the price of “Fame”

I’m nostalgic I suppose. I liked the sense of community that I had while I was growing up. I appreciated the feeling that as kids we knew without any question if we fell or got hurt we could knock on any door and someone there would bandage our scrapes or call our Mom. Usually both.

I think in part that sense of community was reinforced because of our once a year haunts.

We all knew where everyone lived, and they us. We were always under the watchful eyes of someone in our neighborhoods and we didn’t think for a moment about trying to get away with anything.

Well, we thought about it… but there was always an adult keeping an eye on us who knew our names.

I’m not sure that the old way was better than the “new”. I simply find myself wondering if the old way helped to displace mistrust. 

Like the handshake, turning our kids loose with each other was a sign that we bore each other no ill will, and we were still villagers at heart.

Happy Halloween,

Be safe and try to remember we’re still villagers, fearful of the unknown lurking in the forest.