Kindness is like something that’s bottled up inside you, waiting to be freed. But sometimes it’s hard to express kindness. Even if you have it inside you, sometimes, it’s never given a chance to show itself.

It was very cold and dark on Halloween night this year. I was going around my neighborhood trick-or-treating for the first time since last year (because of Covid) and I was nervous but excited to see what it will be like. The first few houses I went to had many people around it, and I heard excited voices drifting in the air and saw the warmth of the golden light of the house in front of me. After those houses, the streets grew quieter and the night grew darker with lights faintly streaming out of windows. The only sound heard were footsteps as I walked to each house that had a light on and rang their doorbell. 

I stopped at one house, and as I stood there looking at it, I thought that it reminded me of “The Landlady”, a short story I had read in English class. I saw a sliver of light so I walked to the door and knocked, but there was no response so I moved on. I only went to a few houses after that, because I was getting a bit cold and decided that I had done enough trick-or-treating that night. 

As I was in my car and going home, I thought about how kind everyone was to dress up and have fun, even though there is still Covid, to help spread feelings of kindness, happiness and joy to anyone around them, and especially to the kids who wanted to go trick-or-treating; for them to smile excitedly, feel happy, and enjoy the experience.

In the end, Halloween was a great experience for me. Even though it was cold, you would hopefully have fun in the end because you talked to strangers (by saying “trick-or-treat” or “Happy Halloween” when they open the door), accepted their treats that were given to you, and got a bag of candy and chocolate that would last you a long time, if used correctly.