Halloween is scary stuff... and I'm just not into that. Over the last several years I have backed away from the very grim and scary side of the Halloween holiday. I haven't been to a haunted house/haunted trail in over ten years. I just can't get into houses smeared with blood and severed body parts. Yes, it's defiantly scary and isn't that what Halloween is about? No, not for me. It's actually quite terrifying to me that we let our own minds go into this sick place to 'celebrate' a holiday. Why do we need this extreme horror for excitement?
The whole blown out of proportion gore is scary to me because that horror is already real. Have you watched the nightly news, picked up a paper, or skimmed the headlines on your browsers front page? I'm over it. I don't need more! I don't want any part (or body part) of it! I am as guilty as everyone... I use to read lots of horror books, watch hack-em-up scary movies, and go to all the haunted houses too. But, I think our culture has upped the ante so many times (how many 'Saw' movies are there now?!) the whole Halloween Holiday has been tainted with horror so extreme we hardly wince at what we see on the daily news. Heck, you can buy all the fake blood, guts and gore gear you'll ever need on a shelf at Walmart! People are murdered everyday, people commit suicide everyday, people do horrible things to children everyday- WHY do we need to replicate these horrible deeds for entertainment?
I do enjoy the spooky nostalgia and history that goes with Halloween... werewolves, vampires, ghosts & goblins- the 'spooky' part or the festively fake. I don't mind a cauldron full of witches brew, a good game of ghost in the graveyard, or a spooky ghoul poking out from behind a tree. However, I find no joy in the Halloween 'fun' houses full of children's bloody hand prints smeared on walls, children dressed up as murder victims/undead, adults hacking up bodies, severed body parts dangling from ceilings, and fake blood dripping from impaled bodies is unbearable. Even more unbearable is the inevitable questions my children will ask like, 'What is he/she for Halloween?' While we are walking past the undead child with head wounds in perfect theatrical makeup on the street. Truth is I am doing my best to not have to answer these questions. I don't want to let them know what a horrible world we live in, that the kid walking down the street is just pretending to have been butchered and dead because that really happens sometimes- how messed up is that? I can't even think of painting my child dead for fun, it's unimaginable to me. They'll learn about the real horrors of our world soon enough. So, until that day arrives we participate in 'safe' trick-or-treats in the daylight hours or at relatives homes, church/school centered parties, and G rated costumes.
Anyway, this is what's been on my mind and all over my Facebook news feed. I hope you all enjoy your Halloween in a fun & festive way!
