Faith in Halloween, Faith in Humanity

I was driving this evening with John to the local liquor store in Schuylkill Haven to pick up my weekly order of booze for the Lake Wynonah Lodge.  I was picking up around 6 or 7 bottles of miscellaneous booze. John was picking up or ordering some new Scotch that warranted tasting. There seemed to be something new each week that he needed to try.

I was coming off of a tough week. The hurricane was on my mind. We missed a day of work from it. Not too bad until you started reading the news reports of all the death and destruction. Sure my area was spared, but others ... not so lucky at all. Besides the total 8 million who lost power and billions of dollars in destruction, I was just so upset reading about the deaths from the devastating super-storm named Sandy.

A mother whose two sons, 2 and 4, were ripped from her arms by the storm surge. A man, filling his generator with gasoline, killed by a falling tree. A mother and father killed driving their sons to safety. A tree fell on the pickup. The parents died while the boys witnessed it and survived. They are now orphans. An elderly woman who perished from hypothermia after she became disoriented from wandering around in the hurricane for hours on end. Lastly, a son and father who died getting caught in the debris and storm surge ripping through their shore home.

But in the horribleness and devastation of it all, people helped one another. People rescued one another. People shared food, water, hot showers. Banks allowed people to do something simple such as charge a cell phone in their lobby. This small act meant the world to others so that they could connect with loved ones and let them know that they were alright. Strangers hung power strips at the end of extension cords outside of their homes for the same reason. Human spirit and kindness, even in my cynical mind, never ceases to amaze me.

I was sad and depressed from it all and still am. John and I drove slowly through Schuylkill Haven to the store. It was their annual Trick-or-Treat night for Halloween, a day late because of the storm. Cars slowly cruised watching the 100's of kids milling about. Parents and kids, just all over the place. There was a 5 year old giraffe.  Then a princess. Then the Hulk. Then a cheerleader and several more princesses, Superman, an army guy, Batman, Superman, tons of tiny ninjas everywhere!  Gothic kids, Spiderman, girls in wedding dresses, a sailor all of 7 or 8 years old. I smiled ... then fought the lump down in my throat and wiped a tear away.

I remembered when I was a little kid with my brother walking with my parents or my big sister around the neighborhood collecting candy, cookies, apples, and specifically Sucrets throat lozenges from the kind old woman on the corner of Maple and Clinton. This is what Halloween is supposed to be like. For the kids, fun and without a care in the world. Kids can wait until they experience the bad things in the world.

I am still sad about the hurricane or super-storm or whatever the freak you want to call it.  It will be years before people recover. But, a glimpse into my past ... through the children of our future, restored my faith in the holiday known as Halloween and a little bit more in humanity. Well ... except for that 7 year old girl dressed like a hooker. THAT was disturbing.