Halloween is almost here, but why does it not feel that way? Between costumes and decor, there should be that "feeling" for lack of a better word, that the season for trick or treating and ghosts and ghouls has arrived. Yet there isn't. Everyone is too concerned with being culturally sensitive with costumes, and making sure they protect their children from the bad people around this year; there just isn't that sense of camaraderie in celebrating a season anymore. The further away from 'the good Ol' days' it seems the further away we get from anything authentically happy.

American values might be slipping from my grasp, but people around me say the same thing. That there isn't that happy season anymore, or that the time just flies by. How are we expected to be on time to this many seasons, not including people’s birthdays and other occasions? I would have thought with online culture culminating as fast as it is, we would have been even more connected now than ever. But with this new day and age of division, hate and skepticism it begs the question; are we trying to please everyone with the hopes that we can? Are we forgetting family values with the rise of technology, and forgetting to hold ourselves responsible for being a decent human being. But what does it have to do with Halloween? Well , the longer we spend celebrating it, the longer we are going to have opportunities to abuse it or collecting negative connotation without meaning so. An example is one of the major tenants of Halloween being to be scared, and yet we have taken it to an extreme by associating it with the thought that "I might get killed by a clown", or murder, and violence on this Hallows eve.

In closing, I want the Halloween back that I had grown to love. The Halloween where we knew there were bad people, and we knew how to avoid them, where we took risks, not because we are dumb, but because we were prepared to face the consequences for the sake of fun. A Halloween where everyone can get along for the love of candy, and the common ground of it being a holiday to enjoy with the community, and not just your immediate family.

As for this Halloween so far, I have had a little fun, and seen some alright costumes, and it's a good amount of Halloween for a busy college student. My only wish is to be able to fully celebrate this holiday and the others I have neglected in the near future with the people I love.