Enjoyable evening yesterday: weather warm, nice night for children. But allow me the annual rant: It's Halloween, the children's favorite holiday after Christmas. TURN YOUR LIGHTS ON AND HAND OUT $4 WORTH OF CANDY! At least half the houses on our route didn't hand out candy. I almost went back home and grabbed a carton of eggs. I find it particularly frustrating to see lights out when I know (i) the kids at that house are out begging, (ii) the parents at that house went begging as children, or (iii) the parents took their children begging on Halloween when the children were small. Goodness knows, I struggle with a disturbing amount of self-centeredness, but the self-centeredness revealed by people who don't want to participate in a nice community event like Halloween shock me.
A couple of caveats: I realize it's hard economic times. If you simply couldn't afford to hand out candy, ignore my condemnation. Then again, $3 worth of Smarties goes a long way. Perhaps you could've bought one bag. When you ran out, you could've turned off your light, knowing you'd done your part. We had close to 500 beggars last night. We treated them to a nice assortment of miniature chocolate bars, but I wouldn't have felt bad if we simply had to turn off the light after the first 150 or so. There are limits.
It was Friday night. People may have wanted to unwind after work with a drink or get ready for a costume party. Though selfish, I certainly understand it. Then again, you could've given a couple of packs of candy to your neighbor. When I was a kid, I remember people saying, "And here's a treat from the man across the street. He's not home tonight, so he asked me to hand these out."
There are single parents. If you simply don't have coverage for your house, I don't expect you to dash your children's begging. Then again, you can do what a few of my acquaintances do: Put a bowl with a hundred treats in it with instructions to take one. A few kids will take advantage of it, but at least you tried.
Some people were participating, but they did so with friends and family. I saw a few small yard parties last night: neighbors drinking beer with each other, greeting the beggars. I'd say this is an improvement on the evening. If a person has to darken his house in order to celebrate with friends while still participating in the community-wide event, I'd say it's a good trade-off.
Maybe some were out of town or sick or tied up in the basement and at the mercy of some robust tricksters. If you're gone, you're gone. I ain't faulting you. You have the options set forth above, but other than that, you can't be blamed.
Maybe a person adheres to a level of theological purity that thinks Halloween is the festival of the devil. If you're gone, you're gone. . . .
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Alternative uses for your book collection.
