I’d Like to Be Your First

I’d like to be the first this year to give you a Halloween Hello.

Boo!

When I was young, Halloween was my second favorite holiday, not far behind Christmas.  What do they have in common?  Lots of sweets, of course.

In that respect Halloween was even better than Christmas.  It was, after all, the sweetest holiday, and no one ever gave me a scratchy wool sweater.  All I had to do was to put on a costume, knock on doors, and say the magic words, “Trick or treat.”  My brother and I stayed out as late as we could to collect as much candy as possible. For the record, I was never a big fan of candy corn, though I loved Mars Bars.

I was delighted whenever a neighbor put an entire candy bar in the brown paper bag I carried.  In those days a candy bar cost a nickel.  I don’t know how much they cost today because, while I do my share of grocery shopping, I haven’t bought a candy bar in years.

While today I would be on the giving end of Halloween, I find myself off the hook for the following reasons:

1. My home is on a street where houses are quite far apart.
2. The front door is far from the street.
3. We live behind a fence and a locked gate.
4. On Halloween I leave the lights off.

For all the above reasons, I have not greeted a single trick or treater for many years and so I don’t need to buy any candy.

Instead, the trick or treaters in our neighborhood ply their trade on the next block, where the street and the houses are better lit and closer together.

The laws of economics continue to apply – if you want someone to do something make it easy for them.  (“All you have to do is say ‘yes’ and sign on the bottom line.”)  If you don’t want someone to do something, make it more difficult.  (No light and a fence are helpful.)

So if you live in a neighborhood popular with trick or treaters, remember to buy some candy today.  The Childrens’ dentists, if not their parents, will thank you.

Alan