Thoughts on Halloween

I always decorate my office cubicle window etc. for each season ever since I returned to this particular office last October.  The decorations get interesting responses from staff. The one I made for Fall this year has gotten many responses. My theme for October is ``It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown’’, which has evoked many pleasant smiles and great memories of childhood Halloweens. Today one of the receptionists shared with me the fact that when she was growing up there was a neighbor who loved the Peanuts comic strip and as a gift to her one year he made Snoopy and his dog house. She had brought a picture of the gentleman along with Snoopy and his dog house which was hand carved and painted. Snoopy is removable. While showing it to me she said that her mother had given him a tie one year on which she had hand painted Snoopy (hence the photo of him  with the tie). The thing is, this man could not see, but he was able to touch things and then make them. He must have remembered every detail from the strip in order to make Snoopy as well as the dog house. It is a real work of art, simple, yet filled with love. I think this is why Halloween and other specific holidays mean so much to us. Halloween is when we saw our first spooky movie, watched ``It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown'' special on tv, got to dress up as our favorite hero or villain and going trick or treating and eating candy until we were sick. We got to carve our own pumpkins with Dad’s help, using a knife we were not normally allowed to handle. These are experiences most of us have in common and that can tie us together regardless of race or ethnicity or religion. This is why my window art has drawn so many great memories from people and so they share them with me.