Mary Helen is my mother-in-law and she is 89 years old. She has seen a lot of Halloweens. She has been a young bride, a mother, and a pastor's wife. She has shared love and teaching over many years of a life of sacrifice, due to her love of Jesus Christ.
Recently we returned from an outing together. She is blind, but that does not keep her from hearing the news, and she began to comment on Halloween as we turned toward the last road home.
"Halloween used to be so simple," she said. "The worst thing that happened when I was growing up was a car on a roof."
She said it so calmly, and yet my eyes were watering and my head booming: a car on a roof?
"What in the world?" I said.
She responded that it was all in good fun, no one was hurt, and the parties involved understood. I kept thinking the roof must have been a chicken coop out in the country, where I know she once lived.
She went on to lament the dangers of today's Halloweens, and also the religious objections.
I said, "Didn't the holiday start as a church event?"
"Yes," she said. "It was All Hallows Eve."
The scariest thing I remember on a Halloween night when I was growing up was two clanging trash cans. Some boys ran them up the flag pole of the elementary school across the street from my house. The adults took the prank in stride. No police were called, and the cans were lowered before school opened again. That was the end of that, with heads shaking and a few smiles covered.
Have we not become reactionary to object to a night of good fun for children? Must we dissect everything? Must those with evil intent try to rob everything from us, even fun nights intended to cheer children?
Anything can be turned into a dangerous or devilish event. But that is not the purpose of Halloween, and I, along with Mary Helen, hope that this holiday will continue.
May it one day be as safe as before. May it one day be as simple and relaxed as before--we do not need to over-decorate. And, may it one day return to good fun, even if a few trash cans are run up a flag pole.
Jean Purcell is a book publisher and writer. Her first book was Not All Roads Lead Home under her pen name, Jane Bullard. Her web site is http://www.opinebooks.com and her Writing and Publishing Nonfiction Books blog is at http://janebullard.blogspot.com/ Sign up for the free Opinari Quarterly for Christian Writers, Publishing Professionals, Book Lovers, and Reviewers on her web site.
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