As I boarded the submarine (yes, I was on a submarine...won't say which one, won't say where it was going, won't say what I was doing there. But I was on a submarine. God's honest truth) I took a look at the dark cloudy sky and wondered: what is the world going to be like when I disembark?
Will it be a world where the Giant's won the World Series? Would the republicans win the day? Would we surface to nuclear winter, realize we are the only people left alive on the planet, and be saddened by the slow realization that it will be impossible to carry the species forward becuase the Navy doesn't allow women to serve on submarines (a short sighted policy, that)? Or would we arrive back in port under the banner of heaven, world peace proclaimed, and Christ himself there to say thanks, but our services are no longer required?
The answers: yes, yes, no, are you serious?
So yeah, I wasn't around to watch the republican wave sweep over this country. Am I sad by this? Eh, a little. I take a little consolation from the fact that O'Donnel and Angle didn't win...but I don't see a good two years ahead. The fact that I tuned into the Glenn Beck program on the way home today and he had already stopped gleefully clucking over the election and was instead complaining about Obama's entourage that is accompanying him to India...well, it just feels like this period of intense partisanship is never, ever going to end. I am so, so tired of it.
Oh yeah, and apparently it's Christmas. The holiday decorations are up in the Target, the Christmas cups are out at the Starbucks, and channel 952 is playing non-stop Christmas carols on Music Choice.
Now, good people, do not worry. I am not going to get up on my soapbox and beat my breast and tear my robes about the fact that Christmas (or simply "THE HOLIDAYS" if you prefer) come earlier and earlier every year. No. I've done that before, and it didn't do any good.
But I am sorry that I missed halloween.
Except for a few years in middle school where I was too old to trick or treat and to young to go to actual halloween parties, halloween has always been pretty good. When I was a kid my Dad would take me around trick or treating and I would come back with a pillow case full of candy that would last until Easter. When I was in college I would attend the annual unofficial LSM halloween party. And now my daughter, while she doesn't really quite understand the concept of trick or treat yet (I think), apparently still had a really good time walking around the neighborhood with Trish and a bucket full of candy. I wish I could have seen it.
Halloween maybe is the last true "holiday". Back in the day, at Christmas, the social order inverted itself and conventions of good behaviour flew out the window. Servants became masters, tenements demanded the best ale from their Lords, and merriment generally flowed in a time when life was hard and joy was in short supply.
Halloween sort of captures that spirit. We flaunt FDA recommendations and gorge ourselves on candy. We watch ridiculous zombie movies. We get drunk at costume parties. Women wear tawdry costumes. All of this flies in the face of convention - Though I suppose there is nothing to stop us these days from eating poorly, dressing sluttily, or drinking large quantities of alocohol at parties. But the spirit of the thing seems to make it a real holiday. We relax our mores, don our costumes, and for one night the dead walk the earth. The world is turned upside down.
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