Don't Fear Strangers, Take off Your Mask, Try to Be Friendly

Guess who came to dinner yesterday? We had a couple over after church and had a great visit; they moved to Washington from California not too long ago and haven’t had a chance to make many friends yet. Not that they haven’t been trying. The wife already has secured a job at a local hospital and the husband has been volunteering like a man on a mission. I think they’ll do fine making friends here.

It’s difficult sometimes to make friends though. Sam and I wonder why. A clue might be that we heard several people at the park on Saturday remark about how few trick-or-treaters came to their doors on Halloween night, but said that was all right because, “It’s too scary to have people come to your house these days. You never know who it might be.”

“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“The Grim Reaper.”

“You want a treat? Just take one and go.”

“Sorry, but you’re coming with me. You’re on your way to hell because you won’t even open your door to little kids.”

Good grief! Have we become a totally paranoid world or what? We want so badly to live forever or to be a hundred or whatever, we’re scared to death of a few kids! Personally, I miss kids coming to my house on Halloween. I miss people coming to my house period. I’m sociable, I like company. I don’t give a dingy dangy if I live to be a hundred. What good is living to a ripe old age if you have to turn into a total recluse to get there? One of the things Sam and I hate about the idea of being locked in prison is that we wouldn’t be free to go around and visit with people. We like to make friends

Sam and I get a real kick out of sitting around visiting with people. Maybe that’s comes from me being raised around a large Italian family. Oh man! The family gatherings with all those Wops and Dagos were wonderful. Food! Wine! Voices raised in ever escalating octaves! It was heaven. I sorely miss those days.

Sam and I say we need to bring back the good old days of trick or treating. Too many churches and shopping malls have spoiled Halloween by offering big, safe, warm, out of the rain, parties and taking the satisfaction out of hefting a pillowcase around two or three adjoining neighborhoods and filling that baby up. Don’t you remember? Don’t you remember that old geezer who wanted you to do a trick before he’d give you a treat? Don’t you remember that goofy woman who wanted you to feed her poodle “Baby” a treat before you got yours? How about those people who gave you a nickel every year? That was fine as long as candy bars only cost a nickel, but inflation spoiled that. And what about those people who gave you taffy or hard candy, not chocolate. You always gave that crap to your little brother or sister right?

Halloween used to be fun! What happened to the Halloween spirit? At least Linus has the balls to sit out in a pumpkin patch all night waiting for the Great Pumpkin. He doesn’t worry about terrorist jack-o-lanterns murdering him for a Snickers bar or about broken glass in his Hershey Kisses or about hallucinogenic drugs in his oatmeal-raisin cookies. College students used to chant this saying when they wanted to get into a building during the protest marches of the ‘60s – “Open the doors! What are you afraid of?"

Well? Why are you so afraid of making new friends?