Trick or Treat?

I am composing this post on the last day of October; by the time you read this it will be November. Today is the day after Halloween, the big holiday celebrated here in North America mostly by children going from door to door asking for treats. It is believed that Halloween was originally a Celtic harvest festival, which was adopted by the church as a Christian holy day in honor of the departed saints.

                    

When our family arrived in Canada in October 1952, we knew nothing about this special day. We only learned about it the next year when we moved into town (our first year was spent out in the country in a farmhouse made available to us by the owners who no longer lived there).

Of course we children were eager to participate in what all our friends were doing and excitedly told our parents about this big day. They were not impressed. Dressing up like devils, witches and dead people, and going from door to door begging? That was not going to happen. We pleaded and begged, to no avail. Papa was a softy, however, and when he saw how disappointed we were, he made a deal with us. The Eaton's catalogue, that amazing tome of everything we wanted but would probably never get, featured surprise packages, the contents of which were unknown to the recipient until the package was opened on arrival. How would we feel about getting one of those? Papa asked us. He made a deal with us: he would order the surprise package for us and, instead of going trick-or-treating at Halloween, we would open this surprise parcel and have fun at home. We all agreed. 

Interestingly enough, I cannot remember anything about the contents of that package. What I do remember to this day is that my older brother did not keep his side of the agreement. After we had received our surprise, he played his own Halloween trick on Papa by sneaking out the back door and going  trick-or-treating anyways! No one stopped him. After that year our father decided to allow us to go trick-or-treating with our friends. Because I was short for my age, I did this until I was fourteen!

Speaking of tricks, the next big event this month is the American election.Trump is making all kinds of promises to trick people  into voting for the person who supposedly ''will make America great again.'' Neither candidate is very inspiring, and I'm happy I don't have to cast a vote. If I did, I would vote for Hillary Clinton of course. She has a lot of experience, a good work ethic, and it's time a female took the reins. 

Trump is playing a very dangerous game by dividing the country against itself. When Abraham Lincoln ran for president in the U.S. election of 1860, he warned of the danger of disunion in his ''house-divided" speech, basing it on Mark 3.25. When he won the election, the union split into north and south over the slavery issue and ended up at war with itself. This civil war lasted four years and as it drew to a close, Lincoln was assassinated. Some Lincoln haters cheered when they heard the news, although there was a general outpouring of grief and anguish, not only at Lincoln's too-early death, but at the death of so many in the civil war that had just ended. Why is it we never seem to learn the lessons of history but keep making the same mistakes?

There are a few more sunny days in the forecast and at sunset I will walk around the small lake close to our home to watch the staging of the geese. They are so purposeful and earnest in their endeavour. They know exactly what to do and when to do it, all the while lovingly caring for each other. They must have an inner compass that directs them.            I sometimes forget to listen to mine, and then I'm in trouble.