Some holidays have turned into trivial celebrations
A pumpkin lantern serves as a Halloween decoration.
October 27, 2013
Halloween—the decorations slip into department stores months before the holiday itself arrives. Yet, the topic continues to dominate conversations, with incessant questions of which costume to buy and where to go trick-or-treating—all the while ignoring the glaring reality: there really is no purposeful meaning in Halloween.
Although Halloween once had religious origins, in the modern-day Oct. 31, little of that remains. Instead, Halloween has been contorted into hours spent going door-to-door filling up bags with candy that may or may not result in a stomach ache in the wee hours of the morning.
The central issue plaguing Halloween is simple: fleeting happiness. Everything that occurs lasts for a few hours, only to deflate afterward to the humdrum typical of daily life. Think about it, when the day after Halloween rolls around, does the happiness from Halloween retain itself? No.
The candy has been eaten. The costume has been worn. Every ounce of happiness has already been expended and will not carry over.
Although some may argue that the memories of Halloween night will carry over, the memories themselves will provide nothing beyond a smile that lasts for a few seconds, to be remembered only on rare occasions. Thus, the happiness is still fleeting.
However, Halloween continues to celebrated and paraded as a significant holiday. Millions of Americans each year pour time and effort only to receive a fleeting sense of happiness.
However, not all hope is lost. There exists a simple solution: make Oct. 31, meaningful. Think of the date not as Halloween, but as a chance to do something meaningful, something in which the happiness will carry on to the next day. Ten years later, a vague memory of knocking on yet another door will mean little, but something learned or explored on October 31 will. Let curiosity rein and explore why sunsets are red, why reading Chaucer is valuable.
Dates themselves do not matter. Oct. 31, is just a date. What matters is what is discovered on that date, about the wonders of the world. Make every day, not just Oct. 31, meaningful.
