Pumpkins

When I was little, I remember waking up early and going to a place that had pumpkins. It was cold outside and the dew was heavy. There was a big selection of pumpkins and eventually, my brother and sisters joined me in picking out their perfect pumpkin. We took them home and carved them and put candles in them. Halloween would come and go and so would the pumpkins.

We woke up to the sight of our pumpkins smashed in the road. Oh the humanity! Some of our pumpkins were too heavy to pick up so they apparently were rolled and kicked into oblivion. What a strange thing to do, smash pumpkins...

Like a ritual handed down from generation to generation, kids all over America sneak around and smash childhood masterpieces. The streets are filled with pumpkin seeds...

I too am guilty. One impressionable year, I took out an entire family's pumpkins all in a row, one at a time. The thing was the people actually were staring at me through the screen door as I hoisted up the last victim. What was I thinking?

It was stupid. There was no reason to do it. If my parents had been aware and more involved in my life, hopefully they would have made me go back to that house and apologize. Then, they would have made me clean up the mess. Finally, I would have had to pay for the smashed pumpkins. Wow, do I sound like an adult now or what?

One year, we were responsible enough to make sure the candle in someones pumpkin didn't catch the victim's bushes on fire. Senseless violence... We also thought shaving cream, eggs, and toilet paper were "fun" things to do.

Another Halloween, my brother actually told a lawyer friend of his that we were going to egg his house. We did. The lawyer friend came over to our house the next day and made us clean it up. Good for him. What in the heck was my brother thinking? He was older and suppose to set an example.

I remember the year that my older brother and older friend decided that Halloween no longer consisted of these activities. I was dumbfounded. Isn't that what you did on Halloween?

As I grew older and became an adult, some kids actually came into our house in Texas to help themselves to the candy we were handing out. I chased them, but they got away. They came back though and egged our house. I chased them again, barefoot on the asphalt street, and this time I caught one of them. The kid that I caught denied doing anything even though he still had the carton of eggs on him! It was then that I "got it". This kid was me, smashing the pumpkins on those people's porch...

When you get what you deserve, that's justice. When don't get all that you deserve, that's mercy. And when you don't get what you deserve, that's grace.

So, today when we go out to the farm to pick our pumpkins, I will reflect on the privileges and mistakes of my youth. I will remember the excitement of finding the perfect pumpkin, carving it, and watching it glow in the autumn night. And I will remember that the mischief of Halloween and my youth can be forgiven and maybe even learned from.