BOO!

When you think of a monster . . . Where does your imagination take you? Do you think of Black & White Monsters of late night television? Do you think of Creatures from an Alien World chasing you to your death aboard a space ship or in a deserted military installation in the middle of nowhere? The Undead? Vampires? Werewolves? An armed man or teen in a school full of intended victims? A terrorist with a gun? A political terrorist with the power to shut down a government? A political party? Mitt Romney & Sarah Palin?
What about the everyday monsters that put fear into our lives? The rude homophobic clerk at the market? The fire & brimstone TV preacher condemning you to hell because of who you love, the god you believe in, the company you work for, or just the color of your skin? The co-worker that knows your Achilles heel and never hesitates to use it against you? Your parents who've never accepted your 'life-style' choice? What about the monsters that live inside you?

Do you fight against your day-to-day monsters or do you empower them through complacency? Do you accept it as the status quo and feel you're powerless to change anything about it? Can you fight your monsters? Do you know how? Do you want to? When it comes to the moment to fight back do you lock your door and turn out the lights, or do you rally your internal villagers with torches and pitchforks to storm he castle? So many things today give us pause, fear, and shock. The Hawaiian Legislature voted in favor of same sex marriage and the Representatives who voted in favor of it are getting death threats delivered to their homes before they even left the Capitol Building. The Mormon Church (of Latter Day Saints) Hierarchy in Salt Lake City (Utah!) are deciding whether or not to spend millions and send 'volunteers' to Hawaii much as they did in California during the state's battle over Prop 8. A straight Marine was beat up for trying to defend his 2 gay friends from attackers. Pat Robertson can spout off all kinds of hate speech and complete fabrication on his cable network yet no government agency will hold him accountable? Just how bad does it really have to be before we stand up and say we will not allow this any more?

 Remember when Halloween just used to be about dressing up and having fun. Remember when childhood friendships seemed like they would last our whole lives long? Remember when your best friend would have your back no matter what stupid thing you said or did? Remember when you said what you meant and meant what you said? Why can't we still do that, why can't we go back to the truths of childhood and adolescence when we were real? Before we had to change to become what others wanted from us, to fit in, to stay under the radar, in the closet, out of the line of fire. Are the ghosts inside of us remnants of our past, our innocence? Have we buried who we were in the pursuit of someone else's perceived happiness? Was there an exorcism we weren't told about, did we 'Linda Blair' our life in a 360 spin from our own reality? I want to find that strength again, I want to find that truth again, I want to be that kid who believed in Magic, that Dreams would come true, the power of Faeries & Pixie Dust, in all the Happily Ever Afters, and to Journey to the first star on the right and straight on 'til morning.

I want to fight the monsters, save the kingdom, raise the ghosts, find my Prince Charming, and have my own Happily Ever After. I want to Believe again.