Wednesday, October 28, 2009

This morning on the way into work I say a young boy - probably 6 or 7 - out in his front yard with a Golden Retreiver. It got me thinking about all the dogs that I've owned and the lessons that I learned by owning them. I think it's really important for kids to have pets (where possible). I've learned a lot about unconditional love, personal responsibility and humanity by caring for animals.

Our current dog, Tank, is 5 years old and is the only dog that my kids have known. They love to climb on him and pet him and get excited to see him when we come home. My son is now to the point where he wants to help feed and take care of Tank and I think it's helping to teach him some additional responsibilty. It's also helped us be able to teach them both that they should be kind and gentle to animals. The downside of owning a dog the size of Tank is that neither of the kids have a fear of other dogs, even in a healthy sense, so we have to be careful around dogs that are not used to our kids.

Throughout my life I've had to put down 5 dogs that I can think of (there's probably more). Each one was a heart-wrenching event but showed me that life is fragile. It is some of the deepest sorrow that I've felt to lose an animal that's been part of my family for 10+ years. But this too was good for me to learn as a kid and is good for us to learn now. In fact, the loss of my in-laws dog this year led to some deep discussions with my son regarding life and death and was a big catalyst in him asking Jesus into his heart. I think it's clear that I've got a soft spot for pets!

The other big thing I noticed today while driving was all the Halloween decorations. I don't remember there being that many decorations when I was growing up. There are some people that definitely go all out for Halloween. I have to admit that Halloween is a fairly new thing for me. Growing up we didn't celebrate Halloween due to the dark aspects that are associated with it - witches, ghosts, etc... It was something that my parents didn't really want in the house so we tended to not have any celebration or acknowledgement of it.

Thinking back on those times, I think that if I saw some of the houses that I've seen recently I think I would have judged them as Satanists or at least heathens unworthy of my attention. As I've gotten older and out in the world a little more I've started to realize something - Halloween doesn't mean any more to most people than Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas. There may be a vague familiarity with the origins of the holiday but by and large it has nothing to do with the way that it is actually celebrated. And granted, there is a minority who celebrate Halloween as a "holy" day. But for most, Halloween is a time to get together with friends and family and the traditions dictate that costumes are worn and candy is taken from strangers. This is no stranger than hunting for eggs or eating turkey or exchanging gifts, it's just what the traditions call for.

So with that said, While I do try to remember the real reason for Christmas and Easter as those have true meaning in my life, Halloween has never had a "religious" meaning for me. So, I'm going to give it one this year. Here's my plan: to celebrate with friends and family, to dress up in costumes and beg candy from and hand out candy to strangers; to go WITH my neighbors door to door; to develop relationships with people on the one night of the year when they will willingly open their homes to me and my family with no questions asked. I want it so that next year I'm taking candy from/to friends and neighbors and not strangers.

So that's my encouragement to you: don't withdraw from the culture, engage! Plus, it'll probably end up being a fun and sugar-coma-inducing night...