This has nothing to do with my CarFree life other than the fact that a freak October snowstorm that has paralyzed parts of the Northeast didn’t cancel my daily commute.  I found out last night that the state essentially cancelled Halloween until later this week.

I don’t understand this move.  Safety concerns, yes. Power outages, yes.  I get those things and totally understand that they have a dramatic effect on this “holiday”.  But isn’t the adversity of inclement weather and post-storm wrath part of the experience.  Is it so bad to say to the kids, “It’s like the end of the world out there so we’re gonna’ have to tone down Halloween this year.”  I was a pain in the ass kid and would have made a huge deal out of it but you can’t deny nature and that is a lesson we all need to learn early.  I’m not a parent, and at this point in my life that is probably the best gift I can give to the world, but I feel like the state as a whole blew it on this teachable moment.

Just to contradict myself, say I agree with postponing Halloween due to all the valid reasons I stated and the variety of others out there.  Do we as a state, government, parents even have the right re-schedule Halloween?  Who scheduled it in the first place?  I’m pretty sure it is based around some pseudo-religious “all hallows eve” nonsense in the first place.   But I’m positive that none of us set the date of Halloween.  I’ve certainly never met anyone who sat down at their google calendar to pencil in Halloween for October 31st.

To contradict myself some more, say I agree with re-scheduling Halloween b/c it’s not a real holiday and its more make-believe than valentines day.  That said, who wants to come to my New Years Eve party on July 27th because last NYE it snowed and was very cold which made the driving treacherous and some of my friends got into a fender bender?

I’m no tough guy (I’d consider myself a bit soft) but how can we expect anyone to make the hard choices later, like walk or bike when it’s below 60 degrees if we postpone holidays until it’s more convenient. Newsflash, holidays were never meant to be convenient.  9 out of 10 times they are a pain in the ass, that involves undue stress, family fighting, and anxiety. In the end serve they force us all to strip away the excuses and reconnect.

Excuse my self-righteousness, but it seems like there was a time when rather than postpone the holiday, the state and it’s people would rally around those that got sucker punched by mother nature by inviting them to their neighborhoods, going to help them clean up, bringing candy and blankets to the shelters for families that are without power.  Yeah, the kids (me included) would bitch and moan until they realized what was happening and still got o run around begging for candy from strangers.

I was out-of-town for the actual storm so maybe I’m missing something but I’d be curious to hear what others think about re-scheduling Halloween?