241023 Halloween

Halloween has a long history.

In time long passed, Halloween was born. The event began centuries ago. Initially it was a pagan event when ancient people dressed in frightening costumes to hopefully scare evil spirits to go back into their graves. Perhaps it did in their minds, who knows?

Some churches now call Halloween all souls day and the day following is called all saints day. Whether you believe that souls rise and go to heaven on Halloween sounds a bit silly to me. As I believe those who go to heaven (or nirvana as Buddhists call it) go there immediately after their death. They don’t hang around for a once a year event. As for saints, I suppose all saints day may be an annual celebration for saints who have died in the past and are now in heaven.

All I know for sure is Halloween is a fun time for children here in the U.S. and some countries around the world. I remember going out for Halloween with a friend of mine. We were always in costume as army soldiers with complete outfits bought from the army surplus stores that used to be available.

At one point, me and my younger siblings all dressed up in costumes to roam the neighborhood. Grandpa always took group pictures of us in costume. Years later, no one could tell who was who. Back then kids would knock on doors and old ladies would take us into their living rooms and you had to tell a joke or do a gig or some acrobatic before they handed out any candy. When we came home, mom would inspect all of the candies to ensure it was safe before we could eat it. Somehow all of the jelly beans were deemed unsafe so we never got to consume them. In fact, mom loved jelly beans, so they were her Halloween treats.

Fast forward a few decades, we were on the farm for 27 years. None of the kids could or would go out to the rural areas. Joyce and I would go to our daughters home in town to see the costumes and hand out candy. One Halloween we were there handing out treats, when 3 young toughs came up onto the lawn. They were too old for trick or treating but they were out to harass kind and decent people. I was standing on the lawn. One of them came up to me and put himself right up to my face, trying to intimidate me. I stood there and stared back at him to show him I was not afraid of him one bit. He stepped away and then left. What he didn’t know was that I had my trusty snub-nosed 38 special loaded with 150 grain hollow points in my pocket. And I would have dealt with him by pushing and shoving or fists or using the 38. I was not going to let him back me down.

That was the old me. Now I'm just an old man and getting older every day.