Why I Don't like Halloween

I don't like Halloween.  I know it's November, but I figured better late than never to write about something that has been on my mind and I think is very important for everyone to know.

I don't like to be scared.  I don't like the dark.  In fact, something you may not know about me is as a Sophomore in college is that I still sleep with a night light.  I call someone every time I walk to my car in the dark, and I sprint up the stairs to my apartment every night.  I have always had a fear of the dark, and have been scared of small noises.  I have super high anxiety of being kidnapped due to the fact that the Elizabeth Smart case happened right near my house when I was little, and it is something I have always had nightmares about.  This fear was magnified my Junior year of high school.  During the Summer of my junior year, I was bullied by a group of boys.  This isn't something I like to talk about often,  and no one really knows about it, however I don't want this to every happen to someone else or think it is funny and so I want to share.

These boys would hide in my bushes at night time and jump out when I would be walking into my house.  At first I didn't think it was a big deal, I thought it was funny too, however it started to get progressively worse.  These boys would do more than just jump out of my bushes.  It started to become their nightly ritual.  They would hide in masks and beanies and try and grab me and tell me they were gonna hurt me.  They threw water balloons at me.  They dumped water on my head.  They toilet papered my house with a thousand roles of toilet paper.  They would shine lasers in my bedroom window at night time.  They spread rumors about me at school, and one of the boys pretended to like me, kissed me and after the kiss the boys jumped out of tree in my backyard and laughed and made fun of me.  They had gotten a picture of the kiss and posted it on social media and tried to hurt the feelings of the boy who liked me at the time who was supposedly their "friend" and no matter my begging, they wouldn't take the picture and the rude word they had said about me on Facebook.  I was mortified.


I didn't want to admit it as a 16 year old girl, but I was being bullied.  I felt totally and completely alone.   I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to tell my mom because I was embarrassed.  These boys had made me feel dumb, vulnerable, and basically helpless and I believed them.  I lost a lot of my friends and everyone on the soccer team thought it was just a big joke and no one really realized how big of a deal it was.  So I decided to tell myself the same "it isn't that big of a deal."  But.  it is.

Bullying is a big deal.  It happens every day.  We see it.  We are often a part of it. When we gossip, that is bullying.  When we comment a rude thing on someone's picture that should be kept to yourself, that is bullying.  When you belittle someone, or make them seem "less righteous" than you, that is bullying. I have one request STOP. 

I kept waiting for these boys to apologize.  To this day, they have not said sorry for what they did.  I don't think they quite understand.  We are the same, I don't think we always understand how our words, texts, or Facebook posts can hurt someone else.  Through the atonement, I have been able to forgive them and let it go, however I still don't want this to happen to anyone else.

I don't like Halloween because it is scary.  People are wearing masks and hiding behind something to make you fearful.  It often brings be back to that long summer where those boys were trying to scare me.

Satan wants us to feel that same way.  He wants us to feel fearful and dark.  That is not how Jesus works.  There are numerous versus throughout the scriptures that explain that Jesus is the light of the world.  He literally is the light.  Where there is light, there can not be dark.  Whenever I feel scared, a prayer is ALWAYS the cure.

(Photo Credit: Tyler Smith) 

Not only is prayer comforting, but it is healing.  Don't be fearful.  Have faith in Jesus Christ.   He will light up our lives and cast out the evil darkness of this world.  There is still a lot of good in this world, and we can add to it if we just BE MORE KIND.

PLEASE, I beg you, just be a little more Kind and our world will be so much happier and full of light.