Ah, Halloween, that secular celebration of impermanence. People in my town do up their lawns will all sorts of cheery things like mock tombstones and skeletons. It’s mostly for the kids of course, a celebration of “spookiness”; a reflection on the return of early darkness, sunset shadows, long nights and cold weather. That the decorations relate to human decay and death is irrelevant to them; they are young, and they are going to survive every winter and live forever. At worst, they might need to ponder the possibility of tooth impermanence from all the trick-or-treat candy.

For us adults, however, especially those like me pushing past the 60 marker, it’s not a game anymore. Impermanence is staring us in the face. The Buddha said that “all conditioned things are impermanent — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering”. So, the Buddha with all his wisdom could walk the streets of my town in late October with perfect equanimity; the skeletons, spiders and black cats wouldn’t bother him in the least. (And who knows, with his yellow monk robes and begging bowl as a “costume”, someone might give him some Halloween candy!) For the rest of us . . . oh well, just keep whistling past the mock graveyards. And Happy Halloween!

 
 

It was a somewhat interesting day today. I got up early, as I usually do on Saturday, and after finishing my oatmeal I decided to drive over to the South Paterson Food Market, to pick up some fruits and veggies. As I have written before, I always enjoy going there; lots of different produce there for sale, great prices, and a very interesting mix of people (this isn’t your usual upper-income suburban farmers market, these are mostly working class people looking to get by). While driving up East Railway Avenue (where the markets and street bins are located) towards the parking lots, I saw a rainbow in the sky. Most interesting, given that it hadn’t been raining. The morning sun was shining thru some wispy clouds, and somehow a rainbow effect was created on the other end of the sky. Other people on the street stopped to look at it too.

Then, while inside of one of the stores getting a carton of soy milk (at least a $1 cheaper than in the local supermarket in Montclair), an old guy originally from South America started talking to me about what is wrong with this country. I wasn’t in any hurry, so I gave him some attention, and we stood there talking (mostly him talking and me listening) amidst the swirling crowd for about 20 minutes. I remember him saying that he was retired, and I guess that he just needed someone to chat with. Hey, glad to be there for him; I’m getting to be an old guy myself these days, and it ain’t always easy for me either to find friendly people to interact with.

Then I got home and stored away all the tomatoes and apples and onions and such. I decided to put on my running gear and take a half-hour jog, and when passing the front of my house, I noticed something tiny yet somewhat out of place. Was that a crocus blooming near the sidewalk, in the middle of October? A sign of spring, just as the cold winds get ready to blow and the leaves start to fall? Well, after I finished my run, I got my camera out, as to share this nice little surprise with the world. Not a bad Saturday; cheap food, a morning rainbow, an interesting old guy, and a crocus in October. A good omen for us old guys facing the autumn of our own lives? Hey, I’ll take it! [Ironically in a good way, it is early spring right now where my food store conversation partner came from . . . perhaps crocuses are also blooming in the town or village where he came from!]