A War of Morals

“They're there to scare the bad spirits away,” explained Stephan Gee.

“It’s all commercial now, anyway,” Ardelia Everette replied.

“That’s a good thing. The mystical element is removed and the parties, the candy, the costumes all represent that. Why would all of this commercialism be a bad thing?”

“It is because something as demonic as this holiday is treated lightly and takes the teeth out of the thing. It was terrible when it started and is terrible today no matter how many billions are generated from sales of masks and sweets.”

“But that’s just it. Those items represent the power of the system that says that people can trade with one another and have a good time. And don’t forget about the kids.”

“Yeah, so they can be part of this ghoulish activity,” Ardelia retorted.

“The kids can take part and become their favorite heroes and adults can, too. That’s the beauty: the chill in the air, the apple orchards, pumpkin fields, hay rides, and ghost stories. It’s all powerful and majestic and pure fun,” Gee outlined.

“You say that but you don’t know how many people are consumed by the idea of this ‘holiday.’ It is something nasty and mean and not fun.”

“Have you ever been invited to a party?” Gee asked.

“Any party?”

“Holiday party….”

“Nope.”

“That's the problem right there. You’ve got to get invited or start your own party. All you need to do is go to one of those pop up stores. They’ve got ghosts, witches, dried ice and pots, skeletons. You can go light or go all in by hiring actors to jump out and scare your guests. You can peel white grapes and make them into eyeballs. It’s another time for creativity,” Gee pointed out.

“What you call creativity I call Devil worship. There are too many ways that the children can be corrupted by it.”

“A fun size bar of milk chocolate and almonds is not going to do anything but maybe, if they have too much will give them a stomach ache or a cavity. Both can be fixed. And that has nothing to do with the Devil.”

“Tuh. You talk all that about how good it is and never acknowledge how destructive it is.”

“Destructive?” Gee queried.

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

Ardelia’s face broke like a plate shattering on the ground. “What?! I’m not even going to get started on that line. You know better than to call this stretch of time to be anything but evil.”

“Evil,” he chuckled. “What’s evil are the many too many deaths being carried in the name of the unknown and unknowable. The evil is the amount of individual women killed because of their head gear and other garments or lack thereof. We live in a civilization that champions freedom of expression and just thinking of all the slutty nurses, dog walkers, dentists, or funeral directors gives me a brilliant idealism of how beautiful this nation truly is. And not to mention the other countries with their own version of the night. It’s a great portion of the year that fully honors the mind with contesting, impressing, and valuing.”

“I still think it’s a wash.”

Gee then jumped up with hands stretched out and said “Aaargh!” Ardelia jumped back, caught her breath, and began to stifle her laugh. Then she started to laugh freely and cleanly. It was a deep and hearty laugh that turned into a quiet cackle.

“You see. This thing can be fun and funny. You proved it to yourself. In a world of people afraid of dying, the holiday represents a thumb of the nose to dying. We all must perish, but we don’t have to meet our expiration date before schedule.”

“True.”