Halloween lurks just around the corner. When I was a kid, Halloween in our house came and went without much ado. We lived in the country and my folks weren’t into driving us around to collect candy that we didn’t need and use gas that we did need. Mom would made popcorn balls in case some other parents felt differently. But, most years we made it through another Halloween without trick or tr-eaters and a pan full of popcorn balls. Yes!
But, there was one Halloween that was different. It was announced at the end of the Sunday service in our little Methodist Church in McLean, NE that the children would be gathering and trick-or-treating for UNICEF. I didn’t know what that all meant but if I got to go trick-or-treating, I didn’t care about the details. Mom must have thought it was a big deal, too. She made me the only Halloween costume I can remember. She may have been motivated by the added announcement that there would be prizes for the best costumes. She rummaged through her scrap pile of material and found some burlap; died it coal black and made me a long dress. She crafted a tall pointed hat with a wide brim out of cardboard and covered it with black construction paper. She molded a nose out of clay complete with a wart and presto! I was the happiest little witch in Pierce County and the proud recipient of first place in the costume contest. We won’t mention that there were only six kids in the competition.
Our small group of witches and goblins knocked on every door in that small village. When the porch lights came on we would yell, “trick or treat for UNICEF.” Most folks dropped coins into our buckets and often gave each of us a piece of candy as well. I wasn’t quite sure what UNICEF was all about back then, but I have since learned that this stood for The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. It was created on December 11, 1946 to provide emergency food and healthcare to children and mothers in countries that had been devastated by World War II. Since that time it has developed into assisting children and women in all developing countries and is now known as just the United Nations Children’s Fund, although it has retained the UNICEF acronym.
To be honest, my life at this age was short-sighted. Although we were by no means well to do by American standards, we did have vegetables on our table, (thanks to Mom’s big garden) and meat in the freezer (thanks to our own butchered livestock.) It was difficult for me to picture children that didn’t have regular meals because there wasn’t food to make one. I couldn’t imagine that my friends and I could trick-or-treat for candy that evening, yet kids our age in other countries didn’t have supper that night and maybe not the night before, either. I could remember how hungry I would get when Mom was just an hour late putting supper on the table. How thankful these children must be for another supper and not having to go to bed hungry. I felt good about being a part of helping someone that didn’t have the things I had. I wondered if these kids’ circumstances might make them look at life differently.
It brings to mind the James Cain (American author and journalist) quote: If we think only of the desires for two potatoes, one potato will never be enough. But if we consider the possibility of having no potatoes, then one seems like a feast. I hoped that my little contribution in the bottom of my bucket would help someone enjoy a feast.
As I ponder all these things today, it seems to me that the more we have the more we want, and those that are most grateful are those that have little. Maybe it’s God’s way of putting peace into the hearts of the less fortunate. But, are they really less fortunate if they have found the elusive secret of being satisfied with less?
Many of us are stuck in the grind of thinking we need more and more to reach a level of contentedness. But, would we not be more satisfied if we wished for less and were grateful for more?
Until next month, keep on readin’ and I’ll keep on writin’.