The Daily O’Collegian

People watch TV and movies, read books, consume alcoholic beverages, and use substances the United States government thinks we shouldn’t be using in an attempt to escape reality. However, I believe there’s a better way to forget about life and the real world for a few hours, and it has become a socially acceptable and arguably fun holiday known as Halloween.

As a youngster with a costume box, the only thing that differentiated Halloween from any other day of the year was the trick-or-treating aspect, which was always far more difficult than getting afternoon playtime snacks from Mom. My brother, our friends and I would walk for what felt like miles in our attempts to gather ridiculous amounts of candy. Of course, I still enjoyed being someone else for a few hours.

Then, puberty hit. Along with the other crazy changes life throws at pre-teens and teenagers, suddenly Halloween became incredibly uncool.

The costumes in the costume box were replaced by more important things like Hurley hoodies and Lucky jeans. Real masks were replaced with the figurative masks we wore to be “cool,” and instead of putting in fake teeth, half of us had braces put on. Headgear was definitely scarier than any Halloween costume. Instead of going trick-or-treating, we became “Keepers of the Candy” and dutifully handed out sweets to the little costumed kids, all the while longing for the days when we were those kids.

After the tormenting years of middle school and high school, I came to OSU. Halloween parties probably account for half of the major parties held all year, and they aren’t limited to Halloween night. Rather, they take place anywhere in the two-week period surrounding Oct. 31. Men and women alike spend as much time at the gym as possible so they can look their best in outfits that show more skin than a Britney Spears video. Halloween is once again cool, and rightly so.

I think dressing up — or is it un-dressing up? — for Halloween is a great way to relieve stress, escape the world of academia and be creative all at the same time. There’s this misconception that once you are too old to trick-or-treat, you are too old for Halloween, and everyone seems to have bought into it as teenagers. Naturally, the older, wiser, more mature college students have figured out that it’s fun to be someone or something besides a college student for a few hours each night for a couple of days during the semester.

I’d even bet money it was a college student who came up with the idea for theme parties, just so he or she could be someone else for a few more nights out of the year.

A little childhood regression never hurt anyone.

Do the mature thing: buy a costume, go to a party, leave the pressures of life behind and enjoy yourself.