Well, tomorrow evening is Hallowe'en, and I will be in my joyous creative workshop!! Sadly, yet another year where I will forgo my Hallowe'en joys. Every year I would dress up, somehow I would put something together from my wardrobe and then I would plaster my face with gobs of make-up and then spend the day wandering around with an itchy face and unable to scratch it because it would ruin my make-up. Truly sounds annoying but I had fun with it. I also love seeing what other people come up with. While I do enjoy that I have a great imagination other people are fare more inventive than I am, and that is FANTASTIC.
So, last year I gave up on the idea of a party or the bar because well it was Monday and I am a stickler for making sure that I get a good nights sleep for classes. This year, it is a Tuesday and I am seriously lacking funds...no costume, no party...BOOO...But that is okay, because the spirit is still alive in me. And well Dylan brought home a pumpkin for us to carve...I do love that man and the way he indulges my creative lusts.
But as I sit her typing this blog I am caught by the news report on CBC which just makes my heart sink. HALLOWE'EN is BAD! Well okay they didn't say that on CBC, but they may as well have! Crime is on the rise, obesity is on the rise, violence against children is on the rise...blah blah blah. Suck the fun out of a very communal activity.
Think about it...when do we get to go door to door and knock on people's doors and have them open the door with a smile and give us something?? Seriously, the stores stock up with candy and we buy it...and then give it away. My sense it is the last community building activity thing that we do in our culture. Not even on Christmas do total strangers get this close to giving and opening up their doors. True, some may argue yes we do on Christmas...but I think Hallowe'en could give Christmas a run for it's money.
But, the news in it's ever present ability to instill fear in our hearts that the world is coming to an end is also slowly chipping away at the joy of Hallowe'en.
I will now and forever and have, stand by the fact that the news is the demise of the world. Ever since we went global with media, humans the world over have become fearful creatures....really though, in North America especially, the amount of violence that is reported compared to amount of kind acts that go unnoticed, is way out of proportion but we only hear about the bad.
I remember reading that we live in the most peaceful time ever in history....although I sense there are people who would read this and immediately knee jerk into a desire to refute that assertion. Why? Why is it so hard to believe that we are safer than we ever have been?
And while we live in fear that the world is getting worse and that we have no desire to bring more children into a world that is going to hell in a handbasket, we forget we live in a community and that we are capable of being active in that community...the community that exists beyond our mom, dad, sister and partner...the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Not because violence is increasing, but because fear of our next door neighbour is at an all time high!! We care more about ourselves than we do about anyone else...
DAMMIT, fight the fear and celebrate HALLOWE'EN!!! and if your kid is FAT, make him/her jog to each door and ration out the candy...DO NOT BLAME OBESITY ON HALLOWE'EN...
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