I loved trick or treating as a kid. I got to dress up real cool, get my face painted and accumulate massive amounts of candy.
But sadly, those days are over.
Now if I’m not working on Halloween, I usually sit on my mother’s front porch passing out Tootsie Roll Pops to the next generation of vampires and princesses. But, while passing out candy last year, I couldn’t help but notice all the houses with their porch lights turned off, not passing out candy.
Helium.com estimates that 75 percent of all American homes pass out candy on Halloween, but I suspect that number is far lower in east Dayton.
Last year only four houses on my street passed out candy.
That got me to thinking: What has happened to Halloween?
While surfing the Web, I read about people who didn’t give candy or participate in Halloween festivities because of their religious beliefs, health concerns and lack of money.
A lack of money? Could the recession be the antagonist that is destroying Halloween?
I seriously doubt it.
The Kroger on Smithville Rd. is selling 32 ounce bags of peppermints for $3.79 and the Rite Aid on Linden Ave. is selling 22 ounce Twizzler bags for just $3.99.
Perfectly reasonable prices in my opinion.
So what is killing Halloween is east Dayton?
I think it has to do with communication. Nobody knows one another nowadays because we stay inside playing video games and watching TV all day. Because we don’t know how to interact with each other, we hide when we are forced into a situation where communication is required.
But that is the beauty of Halloween. It’s an opportunity to reinforce old relationships and to create new ones through dressing up, scaring each other and having fun.
So this Halloween, please don’t be a hermit and hide in your house. Turn your lights on and please pass out some candy!