Halloween is about sharing the thrill of a good scare

To The Daily Sun,

Len Hanley of Barnstead thinks the general population of America should be ashamed to enjoy Halloween. Fear causes everything from premature death to ulcers. Plus it’s bad for our moral fiber here in America.

Did you mean to write “stress” instead of fear? Granted fear is a stress of sorts for our body, although I would argue the general anxieties of our day-to-day life far stress us out more than watching “Gremlins.”

To quote author Tom Morris, “The purpose of fear is to motivate action, often avoidance, sometimes preparation, always a new level of focused concentration.” Plainly stated, the purpose of fear is to promote survival. It is crucial to our species.

Whether you are public speaking, dribbling up the court in a basketball game or getting on a surfboard, you feel fear. It’s part of life and overcoming your fears is crucial to your growth into adulthood.

Furthermore, you give some vague, clichéd analysis that watching horror movies desensitizes a person to lose any empathy that they have, thus insinuating they may be more apt to commit a violent crime. This argument is cringe-worthy. If I watch an epic, thought-provoking movie like “12 Years a Slave” does it desensitize me to slavery? If I watch “Schindler’s List” does it desensitize me to the atrocities of the Holocaust? If I watch any of Adam Sandler’s movies, do they desensitize me to comedy?

The answer is just the opposite. They make you think. They play on your emotions in a moving way if you have any notion of the difference between right and wrong. The same can be said for horror movies. They invoke emotions if you are a sane person, because they portray the things that you never hope to see in your life. Of course there are bad horror movies (admittedly more than most genres, except for maybe Rom-Coms), but the concept is usually the same. Humans fighting for life against something evil. This is a theme of our existence that has run its course through our society since day one. For better or worse, it’s kept us alive.

Participating in Halloween means you’re immoral somehow? Millions of families like my own have family movie night where we get a big bowl of popcorn, lay blankets over ourselves and huddle together while watching a scary movie. We dress up and go out in brisk October nights to parties and events like Pumpkin Fest. We help each other put make-up on, create costumes from scratch, bake cupcakes that look like ghosts and decorate our houses together.

Halloween has become one of the most beloved holidays of the year for us. It’s not about presents or candy or religious beliefs, it’s about being with loved ones, sharing the thrill of a good scare and realizing what you hold most dear.

Thomas Lemay

Laconia