StandingWater Creations

Yesterday was Halloween. All Hallows Eve. You know, the most holy night in the pagan calendar. Dead virgins, animal sacrifices, little children running around in costumes demanding swag from individuals they don?t know and shouldn?t trust. Old people acting the idiot as they dress in ridiculous costumes and parade about as though they were still young and naﶥ enough to get away with it.

Work is good because Fidelity realizes that people are idiots and doesn?t allow them to dress to the urge once a year. Yet, people kept chanting that, ?it?s a holiday,? and everyone should be out of work before the real enjoyment got going: holiday, holy day, a day where you recognize and honor holy things. Man has the world really denigrated itself to make the common individual believe that the observance of corporate America?s way of wheedling into your pocketbook as an actual holiday. I have problems with real holidays, but to throw in the ones where there is no real reason and? grrr.

My roommate asked me to be at home handing out candy. I told him it would be a, ?Cold day in hell,? before I made myself available for that. I told him I planned on sequestering myself to my room, closing the door, and not answering if anyone knocked. He looked at me and said he would be there. One of his friends wanted him to go to Lagoon to whatever Lagoon was doing for the day. The roommate didn?t want to do that and ended up spending the evening with someone else he doesn?t want to be associating with ? at least, verbally, he doesn?t want to be associating with her.

I did wander over to the church for the singles FHE. I?ve not done an FHE in what seems like a very long time. So going was an act of self-will, especially since the plan was for the group to watch a Halloween movie with the option to dress up. Dressing up isn?t my bag and so I didn?t, but that doesn?t mean that people are like me. From my observations it appeared that the majority of people came in some form of costume. I was disturbed.

Have I mentioned that I don?t like Halloween? I don?t like holidays. Holidays are just wrong. Who needs a day to give gifts or a season to do nice things for other people? Who has to take out a second mortgage on their home in order to afford gifts for family? Why do we spend so much money on things that don?t really matter? And what?s with that fat old man who allegedly climbs down chimneys and leaves toys and gifts for the people in the house? And why does he only go to people who have money?

I know the answers to these questions. I discovered Santa Claus at age four, or so, when I woke up and watched mom and dad wrap the presents late at night by the Christmas tree. Granted, I played the dutiful child who wanted presents, but that doesn?t mean I wasn?t aware of what was going on. Growing up, I always found the Christmas presents. Some years I was caught, others I wasn?t. There came a time when it just stopped mattering, and now I am a little taken back when people expect me to want to celebrate with them. I?m called a scrooge when I don?t feel like a scrooge, I feel left out of things by the mere fact that I cannot fathom participation in what seems to me entirely unholy.

Scrooge was much maligned for his beliefs. He was made to be this heinous villain. I am not entirely convinced that we should look at Ebenezer Scrooge as a villain. Antagonist, sure, but villain not.

Someday I am going to write a rebuttal to Charles Dickens and that book. Granted, the book is good, but the spirit of the book denotes openness to spending money even if you do not feel you cannot afford it. Scrooge, regardless of his ability, did not feel he had it and, as a result, did not celebrate the holiday. There were many other reasons, but I would imagine a man who ?splurged? on heating coal would not be completely heartless when it came to spending ? in general.

Keep in mind that this book was written during a time when people worked the day before, the day of, and the day after Christmas. You took only a meager portion of your day off. Dickens was a harbinger of change to where we are now. We don?t work on Christmas that would be absurd.

So, I don?t celebrate Halloween, All Hallows Eve; I don?t celebrate Christmas; I don?t celebrate Thanksgiving; I don?t celebrate most holidays and the one word that comes to mouth is, ?Scrooge.? A much maligned Scrooge. Scrooge, as portrayed by Charles Dickens, had no spirit of the season about him at all. I don?t qualify under that either. Certainly, I don?t have the ?spirit? of Halloween, but then, I don?t believe anyone should have the spirit of that day. When it comes to Christmas, though, I believe I probably possess a stronger and more realistic spirit of the season than most ? even if the giving and receiving of gifts doesn?t sit well with me.

The idea of a holiday, again, is a holy day. Christmas, the word, derives from two parts. Christ and the suffix mas. Mas is a derivative of Mass, or a religious celebration. Christmas is literally the religious celebration of Christ. Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew Messiah which means the Anointed One. At Christmas time, though a celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, is also a celebration of the Anointed One or the Son of God sent to redeem mankind. How do presents play into that celebration? Christmas trees? Ornaments? Lights? Candy canes?

I guess I just don?t get the season. I don?t get holidays. They seem so distant from what I see as the intent of the season, the holiday, the holy days. What is holy about Santa Claus? What is holy about Rudolph? What is holy about dead turkeys? Pumpkins? Children dressing up? What is holy about our modern holiday?