Halloween is a day known to most as one to party, dress up, eat lots of candy and enjoy the sensation of fright.

On the other hand, there are those who don’t share the same sentiments.

I remember my mom telling us kids that the reason we didn’t celebrate it was because it was “the devil’s holiday,” which she now insists she never said.

Growing up, I was always the so called “weird” child who never went trick-or-treating, dressed up or decorated my house with spider webs or fake skeletons. But to me I felt normal since the absence of popular tradition was all I ever knew.

My views on the matter have roots from my upbringing, but as I have grown and developed the ability to make my own decisions based on reasoning and critical thinking, I have found enough flaws with the “holiday” that I continue to not participate.

I don’t feel right celebrating something for the purpose of partying. While Halloween originally had a cultural, religious and spiritual significance, the modern celebration has no real purpose or significant bearing on our lives, but has become an excuse for adults to party, dress inappropriately and act foolishly.

Why do we celebrate and hold significant a day that honors death, fear and all things morbid?

For myself it is not necessary to celebrate something that is not beneficial to me as a person. It does not build me up, make me a better human or help me to remember something significant about my history or culture.

This “holiday” perpetuates and promotes the narcissistic view of people and our society. Every day in the media we see stories of terrible acts and evil, and people often ask why the world is so bad, but it is no wonder our society is filled with awful things when we as a culture have a day to revel in the morbid.

So when Oct. 31 comes, you will not find me dressed up or partying, but treating it like any other day of the year.