Halloween has always been one of my
favorite holidays. I think this is
partially because it occurs in the Fall, which happens to be my favorite
season, but also because it’s the only time of year that my house is filled
with an endless supply of Snickers bars, Reeces Peanut Butter Cups, and Peanut
M&Ms (the best!). And then, of
course, there are the costumes.
I’ve always enjoyed “dressing up” –for
Halloween and just for fun—and long after my friends gave up the practice because
they felt they were too old or too cool, I continued to do so. I still dress- up, in fact; I try to pretend
like it’s all about the kids and their trick-or-treating “experience,” but deep
down I know I love the whole thing, too.
I’m not exactly sure why the
holiday appeals to me so much—perhaps it’s because I spent so many years of my
life wishing I could be somebody else.
Wishing I could be thinner, prettier, popular…dressing up on Halloween
night gives me the chance to live that dream; if only for a fleeting two hour
window.
One of my most memorable Halloweens
fell on the year of my 9th birthday.
The sequel to Star Wars was
released that year, The Empire Strikes
Back, and I fell in love with the main character…Darth Vader. His pictures adorned my walls, my bedspreads,
my pajamas, and my square metal lunchbox with matching Alladin thermos bottle. That year for Halloween, I wanted to dress-up
like Darth Vader. There was no other
option, really. Back then, before there
was an internet, only a few stores sold Halloween costumes. Therefore, it was imperative for me to get
to the department stores early so that I could get my Darth Vader costume
before they all sold out. I went with my
mom a few weeks before Halloween and started searching. The first store didn’t have it; the second
didn’t have my size. At the third store
we tried, all the costumes were hanging in rows in the rear of the building, a
cornucopia of polyester and plastic.
There was an entire wall devoted to Star
Wars characters. I pushed past C-3PO
and Bobo Fett. There were lots of those
costumes left. As I got to the end of
the Star Wars row, I saw a box lying on
the floor. It looked like it had been
opened and then put back together again.
I looked through the transparent plastic circle located in the center of
the box and saw the familiar face of Darth Vader staring up at me. “Please,” I said to myself. “Please let it be in my size.” I turned the box over with trepidation…size
12/14. Just the size I needed. I ran to show it to my mom and I placed it
gleefully in our buggy.
The anticipation over the next two
weeks was almost more than I could bear.
I wouldn’t even take the costume out of its box for fear I might rip it
or tear it before my “big reveal.” When
the night finally arrived, I tore open the box, pulled out my mask, and grabbed
the treasure that lay underneath. It unfurled
slowly, the plastic making a crinkling sound as I got a closer look. At long last, I could see my costume in its entirety.
But, it wasn’t at all what I had
expected.
The arms and legs were blue
(Really? Since when did Darth Vader wear
blue) not black, as I had hoped. The front
was covered by a picture of the Dark Lord, in all his glory, holding his
menacing red lightsabor. However, I had
wanted to wear a Darth Vader costume,
not his picture. What about the control
panel that he wore on his chest in the movie?
The one where the lights blinked on and off in the darkness, announcing
his arrival. Or what about the big black
shiny belt he wore? The one he always put
his hands on when he talked. This just wasn’t right. The worst part was the cape. It was all wrinkled from being inside the box
for so long. It was short (it only came
to about the small of my back). And it
was plastic. PLASTIC. How was it going to swing ominously as I
walked, or blow in the wind as I traipsed from door-to-door? It was all I could do to keep from
crying. It was too late at this point for
me to get another costume, so I was forced to make do with this
cheap-excuse-for-a-Darth-Vader outfit. Then, as if my night couldn’t get any
worse, my mother made me wear my “Christmas Story” snowsuit (“I can’t put my
arms down!”) under my costume. I looked
like a demented Darth Vader balloon ready to fly away to Oz on the next big
breeze. I just prayed that if I left my mask on, my
friends wouldn’t recognize me and tell everyone at school how ridiculous I
looked.
In retrospect though, that
Halloween turned out alright..at least as far Halloweens go. I got plenty of candy; no one at school
discovered me in my humiliating state. I
survived. As I think on it now, it makes
me wonder. I wonder about choices. Every
choice has a consequence.
Never is there a time when choices
are more significant than at election time.
In less than a month, Americans will go to the polls to elect a
president. I marvel though, at how many
of us will come to cast our vote next month.
As a teacher, I make my choice based upon who will best protect my way
of life. I look at which candidate
supports unions, public education, and which one opposes vouchers and Right to
Work laws. These are issues which will
determine whether or not I have a job, salary, and a retirement. It always amazes me though, how many people choose
a candidate based on their emotions. Issues that garner emotions from people like
abortion, gun control, and same-sex marriage are always hot topics around
election time. Candidates are experts at
getting our ire up, too. They remind us
how we are unpatriotic if we vote for gun control; we are ungodly if we vote pro-choice
and for homosexual’s rights. But in my
mind, these are not the real issues. I
may be opposed to owning guns in my home, but if someone else chooses to own one,
it’s not going to make a difference in my life.
It won’t decide whether or not I get a raise or if I’m able to put food
on the table. If it suddenly becomes illegal
for a woman to get an abortion, it may make me sad, but it won’t relinquish my
retirement benefits or put ten more students in my class next year. Choices have to be made based upon our
knowledge of facts—and our knowledge of their consequences—not just on what
gets us riled up.
In my mind, picking a president
should be more like picking a Halloween costume. When I picked my Darth Vader costume all
those years ago, my choice was all about my emotions. I could have researched what the costume
looked like before I bought it. I could
have talked to my friends to find out if any of them had one and if they liked
it. I could have taken it out of the box
right there in the store to make certain I liked how it looked. But I didn’t. I didn’t care about any of
those things. All I cared about was how
I felt about Darth Vader. Nothing else mattered. Maybe it should have.
Fortunately for me, the
consequences of my choice in costumes only made my life miserable for two hours—and
I still ended up with a bag full of candy.
When it comes to an election, the consequences can be much more severe…and
long lasting. The election of George
Bush twelve years ago brought about the passing of NCLB, which in turn, has
changed the lives of teachers—and students—and the face of education ever since. The elections two years ago resulted in thousands
of firefighter, police officer, and teacher furloughs because of drastic cuts
in state budgets that were made by incumbent candidates. I wonder how many people voted in those
elections because of how they felt about the person they elected. I know some teachers who felt George Bush was
the more moral and ethical candidate in that election—at least compared to Bill
Clinton. They felt good about him. But later,
when students and teachers were being bombarded with testing, when teachers’
salaries were now dependent upon student performance, those same teachers were
very disappointed with the consequences of their choice. Much like I was with my Darth Vader
costume. We were all guilty of the same
mistake…not doing our homework. I hope,
as the countdown to this year’s election continues, that people take as much
time to pick a candidate as they do to pick a costume. I hope they do their homework.
When I went shopping for my kids’ costumes
this year, I found the process so very different from when I set out in search
of my own Darth Vader costume years ago.
Pictures of the various choices covered the walls of the store, each modeled
in full view so that the contents of each bag was obvious and transparent , and
dressing rooms were located in the rear, to ensure consumers could be certain
of their purchases before they buy. My
children were able to make their selections and leave the store feeling
completely confident in their choices. I
hope we are all able to say the same after we walk out of the polls in the
upcoming weeks. I hope people don’t pick a cheap version of a candidate only to
find out he/she is not what they had expected or that his/her actions lead to
unanticipated consequences.
By the way, my two-year old son is
wearing a Darth Vader costume this year for Halloween. His costume has a cloth cape, a painted
control panel on the chest, and a fluorescent yellow belt that sits right at
his waist. I guess Halloween costumes have
improved over the years. That said, if
we can research thoroughly what we wear for Halloween, shouldn’t we do the same
for those we elect to lead us? It’s the
least we can do.
