Today is Halloween, one of those holidays that's more for the kids than for the adults. Once again I have my candy ready, but once again only a couple of kids came by. Part of it is that the gate is usually closed, but part of it is that kids aren't allowed to go trick or treating much anymore.

Children are a valuable resource, so it astonishes me that people would put things in candy and try to hurt them. I like to think that even if I never have kids, I can feel good about contributing to our whole species and society. I'm not an environmentalist -- I don't believe that we're headed into some sort of environmental catastrophe -- but I'm not going to purposely be destructive and selfish.

Anyway, I haven't gone trick or treating in years. I don't think I did it in high school even, although I have done it a few times. Likewise, I don't dress up for Halloween like some people do. Not that I think it's stupid or anything, I rather enjoy some of the really cool costumes that people come up with. But I'm just not that creative and I'm too self- conscious to dress up.

So as I'm sitting here writing, eating some of the extra chocolate and getting a sugar high, I think back on how Halloween is one of our commandeered holidays. The pagans had a good use for this celebration -- evil spirits or what- ever, doesn't really matter.

It's remarkable to me how we develop these things. Christianity tries to establish itself, one way to be popular with various peoples is to adopt their religious festivals and incorporate them into Christianity. It's a great marketing move and one that I can respect. The holidays and festivals and religious observances are secondary to the purpose of Christianity.

The purpose of any religion is to enforce that one truth of that religion. Or maybe two or three basic truths. But anyway, Christianity is about Goddess, everything else is secondary. All the religious regalia and forms, the morals and precepts, all that stuff is secondary. You believe in Goddess, or the Oneness of the Universe, or whatever your religion believes in and that is what is important.

On another matter, some television shows have great Halloween episodes. It gives them a chance to be exploratory and do things that wouldn't make sense to do otherwise, for example, The Simpsons have a lot of end-of-the-world Halloween stories.

Two Guys and a Girl really do this well too. In this Halloween episode, a mad scientist went around switching the brains of the characters. A great opportunity to act like you're someone else. It was quite convincing and funny, and I'm sure the actors had a blast doing this episode. Last year's was good too, with a look-a-like killer going around murdering the characters.

Halloween is a great holiday, one that both kids and adults can enjoy. It gives us a chance to a go a little wild and do something we would otherwise not do in normal life. Take time to do something different and enjoy Halloween.