Give from the heart

I had a blast tonight. I put on my Sponge Bob Square Pants shirt and gave out over seventy pieces of candy to little munchkins who came knocking on my door. When the candy was nearly gone I went through the cabinets and found about forty nutragrain bars, a half dozen single serve apple sauce cups, a couple dozen microwave popcorn bags and gave them away too.

There was something very exhilarating about the experience. The little ones were especially cute. They could barely walk in their costumes but they were getting into the fun and hauling away some loot. Where else can you go door to door and have people give you stuff with a smile.

I know some people have a real problem with the trick or treat/ goblin/ witch stuff and I respect that. But I see it as good clean fun where neighbors can get to say hello as their kids have the time of their life. The thing I don't understand is how come we can't be so generous to strangers that show up on our doorstep every other day of the year. Why do we open up our doors at Halloween and then shut out everyone the rest of the year.

Maybe we should start putting a basket of goodies at our door all the time and when guests drop by can give them away. "Here comes the mailman. Let's say thank you with a treat." "There is our neighbor out walking his dog. Let's give him something to snack on as he heads down the street."

If you really want to take this the next step, you could bring some canned goods down to the local food pantry or bring some perishables to the local soup kitchen. I know times are tough, but when you open up and share what you have with others something magical happens inside of you. I think it is God blessing us.

So who needs an excuse? Let's make every day Halloween and just skip the dressing up part. I think it would be the start of something very good.

Cal