Community and Hypocrisy on Halloween

Pale monsters with blood dripping from mouths sway over doorsteps; skeleton bones lie on lawns with tombstones that read: Rest in Pieces. Cobwebs and oversized spiders creep up shrubs and fences; carved pumpkins rot on stoops. Ornate homes with crafty inhabitants create theatrical sets of hanging mummies and moaning zombie heads.

Neighborhoods come alive, rise from the redundancy of daily life. Business owners, homeowners, renters, workers and countless superheroes, fairy tale characters, slaying horror movie antagonists, food items, and animals greet, trick-or-treat, walk together in unity for candy, fun, community, and creativity. Wherever we are, we find commonality and practice generosity and inclusivity; all kids regardless of race, religion, gender, and class are given treats as long as they dress up and say trick-or-treat. In New York City, it is especially striking to see the city dwellers known for stern faces and rushing paces being friendly with one another, taking time to dress up and/or distribute candy to scores of children, walking slowly down streets and avenues, engaging in conversations with one another about costumes.

While Halloween is a festive day for all participants, there are many complex and clashing realities and tensions beneath the silly and surreal veneer. On this day, October 31, 2017, shortly after school-dismissal time, Sayfullo Saipov committed an act of terror by driving a rented truck into the Hudson Bike Path along West St. in downtown Manhattan, killing 8 people and injuring several others. This is the reality we acknowledged and mourned over as we put our costumes on and followed our children from door to door, relieved to be in the presence of others with slightly uplifted moods, relieved to see our children skipping gleefully from door to door, feeling sorrow for the victims and their loved ones who will suffer tremendously because of this tragedy. We are reminded of real horror stories and villains filled with hate who destroy lives.

Nonetheless, most of us continued with our celebrations because we had to or because we could. Our children needed us to accompany them on their coveted holiday. Our muses and alter egos needed to express themselves. We needed a break from routine, a chance to celebrate and play dress-up. This year, my daughter was Little Red Riding Hood, our dog was the wolf, my son Messi the soccer player, and I was Frida Kahlo. While our costumes weren’t related, they revealed some of our interests.

On this Halloween, I was relieved that no one I know was affected by the heinous act and felt guilty about it at the same time. Yet I found peace as I walked for blocks with friends and our children whose ebullient spirits were contagious. It was dizzying and exhausting to keep my children in sight as they quickly moved from door to door; during this time, I began to contemplate: How is Halloween relevant or important? How does it relate to current events, human nature, and family? What lessons can we learn?   

1. Embrace the spirit of unadulterated joy, the spirit of the children eager to fill their bags with candy. While it makes me uncomfortable as a parent to see my children become candy fiends, competing for the greatest number of candies, feasting on unhealthy morsels filled with corn syrup, titanium dioxide, and red dye 40, I realize the more important aspects are the limitless opportunities for free candy, to express our creative selves and identify with characters or other entities, to have fun with friends and family, to celebrate with fellow inhabitants of our communities. This is a reminder of the need for and possibility for fellowship among all. Jokers and Batmans can walk together. Hillaries and Trumps. Little Red Riding Hoods and Big Bad Wolves. However, we should not limit ourselves to groups or sides; this is part of society’s problem - people are pigeon-holed into false categories. We see ourselves as heroes or villains, superior or inferior, us or them, when instead, we should see ourselves as individuals of equal importance who deserve the same opportunities and respect, who must constantly improve our intellects and actions, think beyond our individual ideals and move toward bettering the world for all. No matter who we are, we all should be able to enjoy the candy and costume parties as long as we appreciate and respect one another. Aren’t these constitutional rights?

2. Temperance is difficult to attain. Most children become greedy goblins on Halloween. I reminded my children to make good choices and limit how many candies they ate to about three. My eight-year old son obliged. My pre-pubescent daughter indulged beyond that. Nonetheless, this is good practice for life: how to find a healthy balance between indulgence and temperance.

3. Lessons in mathematics. Candy is numbers. There are endless possibilities of word problems that can be differentiated for each candy hoarder. If Emerson has 217 candies and Jazzy has 239, how many more does Jazzy have? What is the distance we have walked in three hours? How many calories did we burn? How many stores gave out candy and how many did not? What is the average number of candies received in the group of children you trick-or-treated with?

4. Beware of the real monsters of greed, fear, selfishness, and narrow-mindedness that corrupt this country and threaten our communities. The real horrors are hypocrisies such as that of the President who tweeted the night of the attack that Saipov should receive the death penalty and that we need to “step up our already extreme vetting program”, using this moment to vilify Muslim immigrants while almost a month ago, when Stephen Paddock killed 58 people at a concert in Las Vegas, Trump tweeted that “we’re not going to talk about [gun laws]” and has failed to pass any legislation that would help protect Americans from mass shootings like this.

Zombies and ghosts cannot harm us, but politicians in power can. While it is fun to dress up as the undead, it is our responsibility not to be living zombies who want to eat brains. Instead we should try to further cultivate our brains, indulge in education, social consciousness, critical thinking, and true democratic ideals of power for all people. The government needs to do more to protect its inhabitants, especially our children. We need to fight ignorance by investing more in education, especially in impoverished and less privileged communities. We need to find more opportunities to come together regardless of our countries of origin or political affiliations.

What I love about Halloween in New York is seeing families of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds walking together through neighborhoods and interacting with one another, speaking different languages. It is a lively American tradition, a great outlet for angst and imagination, and a comforting relief from stress and disillusionment. Hopefully next year, there will be more to celebrate rather than mourn.