Poor Old October

Everyone goes through times in their lives when things just don’t seem to work right at all. The situation goes from bad to worse and you can end up feeling pretty low.

I wonder if that could be true of seasons and months as well? The other day I was wondering about how it would feel to be October and when you stop to think about it I’ll bet it wouldn’t be good. Because unlike the months around it October really doesn’t have much going for it.

June is famous for weddings and being out of school, July celebrates our independence, August is celebrated by parents as back to school, and September has Labor Day, a celebration of hard work while November and December feature the two biggest holidays of the year.

And then there’s poor old October. Three of its biggest holidays are World Vegetarian Day on the 1st – big whoop. Or take United Nations Day on the 24th – we’re going downhill fast here people. And finally there’s Halloween on the 31st. Halloween which is probably the lamest holiday of them all!

Think about it. In a nation of children who are growing ever fatter and out of shape and where childhood diabetes is reaching alarming proportions, why on earth are we setting aside a day dedicated to gorging yourself on all the candy you can wrangle out of your neighbors hands?

And then there’s the wholesale wanton massacre of the innocent pumpkins. Not only do we kill them but we rip their guts out and then carve hideous faces on them, Finally, and worst of all, we light fires inside them, making sure they die with agonizing slowness. No wonder that P.O.P.S. (People Opposing Pumpkin Slaughter) is opposing this needless cruelty. We can only hope this new front in the never ending struggle for civil rights is successful some day! Meanwhile, October wears the shame of this annual atrocity.

What would an alien from outer space think if he saw this? I imagine his (hers?, its?) report back might read a little like this:

“For reasons that remain hidden to us the humans on this part of the planet not only set aside a day to encourage their off spring to threaten and extort rich foods called “candy” from their neighbors by threatening a “trick” unless a “treat” is freely given, but they actually spend money and time helping them accomplish this! These parental units maintain that terrorism is a bad thing all the while training their children in the rudiments of terrorizing both friend and family. The thought of billions of these greedy little beings (who are often given the mysterious and frightening name of “rug rats”) running around the galaxy holding entire planets up with their “trick or treat” hoax is too frightening to contemplate. For this reason among many others we urge that this planet continue to be considered under quarantine and thus preserve our harmony in the Galactic Hegemony.” – Resol, of the 4th Ymra

Poor October, home of the lame holidays while being surrounded by all those other months who have cool ones. I don’t know about you but it kind of reminds me of my four years in high school when I was never one of the “cool kids.”

But as the old saying goes every cloud does have a silver lining and this one is no exception. Because the good news is unlike October you have free will. You can choose to make a change in your life if you want too. As another, and far better known space Alien than old Resol always says, “There are always possibilities.” *

You don’t have to be stuck in the same old rut doing the same lame things over and over again. If your life needs improving you can choose to try and make that change. You can also choose to get the help you need to make it happen. Today more help is available to those who want it. From teachers to counselors to parents to ministers, etc. help is there for you if you choose to take it.

But you do have to choose to reach out and that’s not easy. It’s much easier to just stay in your rut and complain. I heard a rut described once as a grave with both ends kicked out. That spoke to me. Staying in a rut is just another form of slow death.

So don’t be October. Admit you’ve got problems, make the tough choice to change, and then get the help you need to make it happen. It’ll be hard but worth it, because you don’t really want to be October now do you?

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* You did recognize that quote from Star Trek’s Mr. Spock didn’t you?