2008 Woodie Awards
Or So She Thought
Braving the monster in the closet
Issue date: 11/2/05 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Kayla Bryant
Online Editor
I have never been a big fan of Halloween. Even when I was younger, I just wanted to rush through the holiday celebrations. I didn't enjoy people trying to scare me and I wasn't excited about blood and gore and I didn't like my M&M's to have pictures of mummies and vampires on them. The last half of October always had me scared of the unknown, scared of that fearsome monster that lurked behind every corner.
I wasn't an extremely odd child who hated the idea of dressing up and eating candy and going to parties. I got excited about becoming someone else for the night and I have always had a great love for candy, but I was and still am a very scared person.
When I was younger, just about anything could scare me - an inflatable Frankenstein, a shrieking ghost, even movie previews that would be shown on television. To survive Halloween every year, I would pick a nice costume, go to the festival at my church and try to avoid anything scary before November.
I still don't like scary decorations and watching horror movies will give me nightmares for weeks. This past year, though, I realized something very important about the way I have handled Halloween.
Because I didn't enjoy Halloween, I tried to rush past it. How often in life do we just try to get past the things we don't enjoy? We run through everyday thinking that if we can just get through today, then we can worry about tomorrow later. The problem with this mentality is that today never ends and tomorrow never comes and we miss everything going on around us.
The truth is that sometimes life is scary. Sometimes the vampires, ghosts and werewolves of this world consume everything that we see and do, and it is hard to be happy just staying in the moment. Sometimes these scary moments are major moments that happen in our lives. These are the moments when we have to finally stand up and say, "I'm not going to be afraid anymore." These are the moments that are going to shape us into the people we are supposed to be.
So even though there are times when life isn't so pleasant and we would rather hurry past with our heads down and our arms crossed, take the time and actually pay attention to what's going on. We never know what we might learn, and we might actually have fun too.
Online Editor
I have never been a big fan of Halloween. Even when I was younger, I just wanted to rush through the holiday celebrations. I didn't enjoy people trying to scare me and I wasn't excited about blood and gore and I didn't like my M&M's to have pictures of mummies and vampires on them. The last half of October always had me scared of the unknown, scared of that fearsome monster that lurked behind every corner.
I wasn't an extremely odd child who hated the idea of dressing up and eating candy and going to parties. I got excited about becoming someone else for the night and I have always had a great love for candy, but I was and still am a very scared person.
When I was younger, just about anything could scare me - an inflatable Frankenstein, a shrieking ghost, even movie previews that would be shown on television. To survive Halloween every year, I would pick a nice costume, go to the festival at my church and try to avoid anything scary before November.
I still don't like scary decorations and watching horror movies will give me nightmares for weeks. This past year, though, I realized something very important about the way I have handled Halloween.
Because I didn't enjoy Halloween, I tried to rush past it. How often in life do we just try to get past the things we don't enjoy? We run through everyday thinking that if we can just get through today, then we can worry about tomorrow later. The problem with this mentality is that today never ends and tomorrow never comes and we miss everything going on around us.
The truth is that sometimes life is scary. Sometimes the vampires, ghosts and werewolves of this world consume everything that we see and do, and it is hard to be happy just staying in the moment. Sometimes these scary moments are major moments that happen in our lives. These are the moments when we have to finally stand up and say, "I'm not going to be afraid anymore." These are the moments that are going to shape us into the people we are supposed to be.
So even though there are times when life isn't so pleasant and we would rather hurry past with our heads down and our arms crossed, take the time and actually pay attention to what's going on. We never know what we might learn, and we might actually have fun too.