There’s a part of me that believes that by attempting to include everyone in our Halloween celebrations by calling it something else, we are also sort of segregating them. We’ve all heard about Holiday Trees by now, and surely we’ve heard or even some of us given a rant or two about them. I am not a big Christmas fan until about the week of, because I work with the public and I see the gruesome commercial side of it (which ironically is my living, but try getting a job in my field in this town, I dare you; not happening). People are rude, angry, stressed, bitter, and once in a while sweet as pie when they Christmas shop. It’s a spiral of misery until that bright and hopefully snowy morning when you find out if what you’ve purchased for your loved ones measures up to what they bought you. C’est la holiday vie.
But this rant isn’t about Christmas commercialism. It’s about the trick( or treat?)le-down effect of political correctness. Having read something by Ben Stein the other day which was slightly preachy but the majority of it rang very true with me, I realized something. Segregation is still very apparent in North America, even if it’s “just” in the form of jokes in poor taste. Those go a long way to shape the beliefs of people.
So onward to my point, yes?
On one of my many trips to the dollar store this past weekend, I overheard a girl saying to her mother, “Oh, and I have Orange & Black Spirit Day on Monday!” Nope, not Halloween, kids. No Halloween at that school, but there is a day for kids to dress up exactly like it is Halloween and impress whoever this supposed Orange & Black Spirit is, which I’m guessing the Jehovah’s Witness kids still won’t take part in because it’s rather transparent that it’s still celebrating something their values are against. Why dress it up as something else? (Because it’s Halloween? Eh? Eh?) It’s October 31st. Kids are going to be trick-or-treating later that evening, and the obvious colours associated with Halloween are orange and black. And if in my core, my values stand against those of Halloween, I am probably also against Orange & Black Spirit day, so this does nothing to include me whatsoever. Thus, segregation. Still present. Either celebrate Halloween or treat it like a regular day at school. It does little for fun for those who do celebrate, and I guess it’s still segregating the kids who do love Halloween… but ugh! It’s all just so frustrating. Let the kids who don’t celebrate have a nice day off school then without reprimand? There’s an idea.
Or maybe it’s just a really great idea. At any rate. Happy Halloween, and if you don’t celebrate it, please do your best to ignore my post and have a wonderfully unspooky day.
