Credit: @woofknight, X
Happy Halloween!! On our past trip, I overheard the story of a little kid asking for a grilled cheese, “but without the cheese, please.” This brought a smile to my face. That’s what I love about Halloween – the vicarious thrill I feel and the automatic smiles that come with that thrill, when I see the joy on the little ones’ faces. The children literally become the super heroes, the princesses, the sports heroes, the pilots, the witches, etc. and they get rewarded for their pure audaciousness and creativity and mischief.
In a dangerous world where the much-too-easy-to-do wrong click on a computer’s website can show a child what real horror looks like, in real live children’s faces, all over this planet, thank goodness that many children can have a night of escape into make-believe and fun and sweets galore. For at least one night, the children can believe that magic is real and that they, themselves have great power in commanding a simple spell – “Trick or Treat.”
Our children need more lightness and fun. Our children need to see more smiles and acts of kindness, everywhere that they look. Our children need us to believe in them and their futures, by us boldly taking the reins and owning our own mistakes, and steering our ships to better, safer, clearer routes, so that when our children embark onto the harbor of their own adult lives, the real horror won’t be so easy to be found. And the magic will be everywhere.
“A person should always choose a costume which is in direct contrast to her own personality.” –Lucy Van Pelt, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
“Magic is really very simple, all you’ve got to do is want something and then let yourself have it.” –Aggie Cromwell, Halloweentown
“Just because I cannot see it, doesn’t mean I can’t believe it!” –Jack Skellington, The Nightmare Before Christmas
“The farther we’ve gotten from the magic and mystery of our past, the more we’ve come to need Halloween.” –Paula Guran
“There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch.” –Robert Brault
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.