Halloween Blessings

My home, located in a small neighborhood, has always been a safe zone.  Within its walls, you'd find a spirit of family and security.  Outside its walls, whether it be my front yard or down the street, the safe zone extends.  Danger can be found anywhere, even in the streets of a small, family neighborhood, let's not be ignorant of that.  Do not assume safety is concrete.  However, I can say I have grown up in a neighborhood where I could play four-square at the neighborhood park with out a looming nervousness or extreme caution.  Yesterday, Halloween night, represents an explosion of neighborhood activity.  Every house hoards buckets of chocolate bars and sweet treats; Every porch, a home to carved pumpkins.  The streets are lined with giddy children, even adolescents, dressed as bloody characters, wicked witches, sports players and disney princesses.  The younger children hold the hand of parents while the older ones galavant up and down the sidewalks.  For me, Halloween was scary not because of my neighborhood but because of the creepy monsters and ghosts that I believed lurked about.

As a college student at BYU, neighborhoods become less critical to the Halloween scene.  In your apartment, you buy your own candy and leave it on the table for all your roommates to share.  You create a costume from odds and ends at the bottom of your closet or you make a quick trip to Deseret Industries thrift store.  As for the activities, you probably attend a stake Halloween Dance or you watch a scary movie with the people in your apartment complex.  Going door to door tends to not be on the agenda.  This year, for me, was going to look no different.  I had plans to carve pumpkins and watch a movie with a good friend, no neighborhoods involved.

                                                                                                                                                          While sitting in my French class on Thursday, my professor announced that there was to be a trunk or treat at an elementary school in Salt Lake and volunteers were needed.  Last year, he told us, only three cars showed up.  He then explained the importance of this activity.  90% of the students that attended this school were under the poverty line and 100% were eligible for free school lunch.  Trick or treating did not happen in their neighborhood due to the safety risk.  The school put together the trunk or treat to provide a safe environment for these children.  The trunk or treat began at 5:15 and was predicted to last around an hour.  Acknowledging that my plans were not until eight, I found a carpool buddy and figured I would go.  

We had no need to buy candy because my French professor provided us with five large bags of sweets.  It didn't take long after we pulled of the freeway exit to realize we were in a different neighborhood.  Every building and home was surrounded by a chain-link fence.  The houses were small and worn.  Overgrown bushes and plants crowded the walls and the paint was pealing.  No one seemed to be walking the streets.  

With the help of a small prayer and GPS, we were able to find the elementary school.  As we pulled into the parking lot, we saw about twenty cars in the lot.  With relief-filled hearts, we eagerly parked and set up camp.  We opened the trunk of my classmate's small car and wiggled inside.  We covered ourselves in my rainbow, polka-dotted blanket and began to open the big bags of candy.  Children and their parents were lined along the edge of the school, waiting for the sugar rush to begin.  When every car was parked and ready, the teachers announced that the trunk or treat had begun.  The kids came one by one, many of them dressed as Spiderman, Scream, and dead brides.  We saw many Mario and Luigi costumes as well.  Some came in no costume at all.  Many of the parents dressed up too.  Some kids had pumpkin shaped baskets and others brought a pillow case or used a garbage bag.  Many kids were timid when they approached our trunk.  When the boys approached, we acted terrified by their costumes causing them to smile and blush.  When the girls approached, we told them how pretty they looked in their princess gowns.  I have never seen little girls grin so big.  All of the children seemed giddy with excitement.  And the parents seemed to enjoy themselves as well.  Many thanked us as we dropped candy in their children's bags.  Some didn't speak English so they would nod and smile.  Some of the kids asked why were sitting in the trunk and one little girl told me my necklace looked like a string of gum balls.  

Cars around us began to run out of candy so they packed up and left.  By the end, we were the only car in our row so families stopped walking over.  But we still had a full bag of candy!  For a while, we would call kids over showing them all that we had.  Then, instead, we hopped out of the trunk and began passing out candy at the exit.  We ended up giving a quarter of the bag to two little boys.  

The activity did as it promised, only lasting for an hour.  I watched as multiple children from the same family would pile into the front door of tiny apartments.  I wondered if they would organize their candy like my siblings and I always did.  We would always set up our own store and trade candy with each other.  As we left the school and drove back through the neighborhood, something felt strange.  It was still light outside and no kids were roaming the streets.  They had all already returned to their homes.  

The smiles on the faces of these children kept passing through my mind.  I had been to trunk or treats before and I know I never smiled like they did.  These children, many in ragged costumes, seemed so happy.  Even in their circumstance, candy and smiling faces made them ecstatic.  

I began to feel guilty about my complaints: not having enough money to buy a new shirt, waking up early in the morning, doing cleaning checks and the inevitable self-pity for no reason at all.  

As I observed these children, I figured they must know that, financial wise, they've been given a tough lot.  Yet in the midst of this hardship, they were able to smile and allowed themselves to be happy.  After thinking through this experience, I figured out a little motto I want to try and live by.  Recognize your problems and put trust in The Lord; Recognize your blessings and thank The Lord.  We all have adversities that need to be faced but rather than facing them with fear, face them with faith that God will "visit his children in their adversities" (Mosiah 23: 14)  However, we all are given blessings we need to acknowledge as well.  No matter your current circumstance, we all have reason to be happy, a concept these children seemed to understand.  

When thinking on the Halloween's to come, I hope to not only focus on the candy, the costumes and the neighborhoods but to remember what I am thankful for.  Who says you can't count your blessings a month before Thanksgiving?