To the Editor:
In a world where desperately hungry, abused and ignored people lack the basic needs of shelter and sustenance while living in horrific conditions of wars and suffering…. why in the name of anything sane do we waste huge amounts of food, resources and time celebrating a season watching horror movies, dressing in costumes to make us look monstrous, decorating our houses to look frightening and wasting pumpkins to create ghoulish lanterns instead of food for the homeless?
This is not a holiday that celebrates anything but the weird.
One need only read the news to hear of monstrosities visited upon the poor, wars that target helpless people leaving behind victims with monstrous wounds, and cultures torn apart by deaths and suffering. So what manner of mental illness would lead us to celebrate fall with images of death and horror?
Is it all meant to distract us from the fact that here in our own excessively wealth country, a maddeningly large number of our so called “leaders,” are just as corrupt, heartless, monstrous, ghoulish and evil as any Hollywood could imagine?
Want to do something positive? Treat your less-fortunate neighbors with donations they can use, rather than giving your children sugar highs.
—Michael Waite, Sedro Woolley; Oct. 23, 2026