Are You a Believer?

by

Margaret Cracknell

Are you a believer? Do the ghoulish creatures, the witches, the skeletons and the blood-sucking vampires scare you when they leap out of the dark shouting "Hallowe'en Apples", their voices echoing down the long, dark road?

Scare you? Of course not. They are only kids. Little kids, over excited, over-dressed, overjoyed and, before the night is out, over-fed and over-tired. Who's scared of them?

But think what they represent. All the sinister evil of the dark underworld. The fears and suspicions and the anxieties of the weak and the ignorant.

No, not just the ignorant. Knowledge too can send shivers up your spine, your heart racing, your feet turned to lead. "What was that sound? What moved in the trees? It could be a ghost. Ghosts have been seen around here. Everyone knows ghosts inhabit old houses!"

An owl hoots. A breath of wind lifts the curtain. What skeletal hand raised your wrist to feel your pulse while you slept, and laid it back down on top of the covers, murmuring, "Not yet...Not yet."

You don't believe all that? If you spill salt, why do you throw a pinch over your left shoulder, or say "Touch wood"? Touching wood is so easy to do, might as well do it to be on the safe side. What's to lose? But I don't believe anything terrible will happen if I don't do it. Then, whey do I do it?

An eight-year-old who sleeps in a bunk bed told me she never ever steps on the first rung of the ladder, going up or coming down. She didn't put it into words, but I felt her fear. You never know when a sinewy hand with an iron grip will reach out from under the bed—and grab your bare ankle!

Fears! superstitions! I think we all still believe in them.

That is why we pray, (just in case, you understand):