What's Wrong with Jack

I gather my sisters for our annual fall ritual. Just three single pumpkin spice girlies getting lost in a corn maze, eating cider donuts, and bumping along on a hayride to the pumpkin patch. We search for a healthy specimen that’s perfectly round with no blemishes and the complexion of a traffic cone. Eventually we find him. He’s large enough to carve, but light enough to carry back to our wagon.

We bring him home, pop a few bottles of wine, and scoop his guts out. Then we carve a scary face like the tradition of olde. Our ancestors used the turnip, lighting the hollowed vegetable from within. The Jack-o-Lantern served a dual purpose. It was a beacon to welcome the children and well-wishers seeking a morsel of soul cake, warmth, and perhaps a story or two. And the ghoulish, glowing face was a trick to ward off evil spirits. This is how they endured when the nights grew long and the veil between worlds grew thin.

We remember the way it was, but today’s American Halloween holds little resemblance to the former. It’s a night of excess sugar for children and lowered inhibitions for adults, a sort of pressure release valve for puritanical ways.

Our kind were maligned by the religious right to the point of near extinction. We were the healers, the midwives, a trusted source of wisdom. Power like that breeds jealous men. Men who refuse to coexist with anything they can’t understand. No ‘live and let live.’ Their hate and lies spread like an infectious disease, conquering whole continents.

We’ve adapted to the culture around us, blending in where necessary, but keeping the traditions alive in our hearts. We place Jack on our front porch to welcome the neighbors and strangers alike. A bowl of store-bought candy waits by the door.

I noticed this morning that Jack is no longer the smiling snaggletoothed lantern he was a week ago. He’s sagging and leaking. Mold is growing inside. The insects have gathered to feast on his rotten flesh. Yes, the pumpkin is dead and prone to decomposition, but I have never seen it happen so fast. Our brave little guardian is just not working like he used to.

The evil spirits haunt the halls of government and the city streets, snatching innocent souls with no provocation. They rob us of our rights and starve the most vulnerable among us. We gather now in the spirit of community to resist the darkness from swallowing us all.