Samantha Gervais
Anchor Staff Writer
Happy Halloween, fellow spooky Rhode Island College students. ‘Tis the season to feel spooky.
October brings the holidays knocking on our doorsteps, starting with one of our favorites since most of us were in grade school. Of course, on Halloween we all remember running around in costumes, ringing doorbells and screaming at the top of our lungs “Trick or Treat!” until it felt like our vocal cords may rip.
Every house was decorated to the nines with scary decorations, cobwebs everywhere, creepy crawlers, fake blood and my worst fear: porcelain dolls that seemed to watch every move I made when I walked by them. As we watched the sun go down, and then put on whatever Halloween costume we decided to have that year, we ran out the front door and stuffed our faces with candy.
Fast forward to now, and it seems less than stellar. As I drive down the streets, I notice a severe lack of Halloween decorations – it feels even colder than usual. Everything happening in the news that we constantly hear about, the real doom and gloom, makes me wonder: is trick or treating becoming a thing of the past?
Unfortunately, with COVID and the overwhelming reports of bad news the world has been constantly hit with, it seems that many people nowadays seem to have lost that holiday spirit to bring children out for their tricks and treats. No way am I shaming or questioning the decisions of parents, it is truly understandable why these decisions are made. But, it does feel disheartening on Halloween night to see a lack of excited children running around as witches or their favorite superheroes and going on intense sugar rushes. Now, the streets are dark, no porch lights ever really seem to be on, welcoming in these children. It doesn’t feel like the same trustworthy world that we previously grew up in.
I wish that our children could grow up in the same world we did, being able to run up to a home with their parents standing a few feet away, instead of having them need to be a few inches away to feel safe.
Maybe it’s an over-reaction, but this is the accumulation of thoughts I’ve heard from multiple people. An area I frequented in the Warwick area that used to be so full of life during the Halloween season really seems to live up to the Halloween theme of being a ghost town.
I would love to know what my fellow classmates think of this subject; does anyone else seem to think that trick or treating is becoming a thing of the past?