Our family was trying to decide on whether to participate or not in the Halloween event this year. How does one take a decision on something like this? We started by making a hypothesis.
An active Halloween this year in these COVID times would be not a responsible situation for people and kids to go around and will lead to an increase in transmission of the virus.
This is testable in a couple of weeks if the virus spread spikes and/or in four weeks when the loved ones may end up dying.
our family hypothesis
I was first exposed to Halloween in the 90’s when I first visited the USA. And later when I moved to Canada in the 2000’s the event has been part of our symbolic cultural integration here in Canada.
We have grown to love to see the little kids with eagerness in their eyes to collect the candy and the pretty dresses and make up that go along with it. We have over the years spent more and more money on candy and decorations and in several years run around to buy more candy during the give aways to keep the little ones happy.
But this year, we have come to agree that we should shut down our lights and stay quiet. We want to be part of the community that will get the kids go home earlier with less homes to visit and stay safe. There is nothing wrong in a cancelled halloween. It is a war out there… a war against humanity that we cant ignore from an enemy that we cant see.
This is Halloween to remember for what we did not do – a precious memory to learn from doing the right thing in the long run rather than let our ceremonial circus to continue and harm yourself or the people around you.
This is one hypothesis I want to be proven wrong. If there is no spike, I am happy that I have contributed my mite to that. If there are lesser loved ones hospitalized and/or die, I would feel that is a fantastic thing too. But, we can’t live on hope, but only by action. Therefore, this is how we chose to act this year. And I shall write again in 2-3 weeks to compare where we landed. Either way, we have done our bit to do less harm to the community, without a doubt. And we are proud of that.
The canceled Halloween of 2020, the one to rather remember for why it was better to cancel and learn from – and learn that it is okay to course correct than just sticking to one’s beliefs, feelings and emotions. At what cost? This is one experiment that is not worth the risk.
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