The smell of gasoline, the sound of chainsaws and screaming and the sight of towering clowns greeted me and my friends as we entered Universal’s Halloween Horror Night. When it came to the attendees, the girls shrieked — that’s expected and really kind of dull. Watching the boys proved more entertaining as they tried to keep the terror clenched inside or overcompensated with that special kind of swagger made up of clenched fists and deliberate torso twisting. My favorite young guy finally gave in and fled from a pack of chainsaw-toting clowns with many a backward glance, each filled with the purest terror I saw all night. He inspired me to give in to the scare.
This proved difficult as everything seemed humorous. There’s something inherently funny about zombies, especially the grunting, jerking and their inability to hold an intelligent conversation. They lumbered clumsily, groaned pathetically and struck sympathy rather than fear into my heart. One zombie limped along next to a group for a while, looking at them wistfully. He just wanted a friend.
Down by “The Mummy” ride, the costumes got perplexing. There was one creature who I can only describe as being an Egyptian traffic cone on stilts.
At 1:30 a.m., as we deliberated whether to stay or go, an evil clown sidled up and stood in our circle, as if to say, “What are we doing guys?” With his silent encouragement, we headed for one last maze. Once there, I took 10 seconds of courage to surrender to fear and suspend that snarky disbelief of mine. I jumped, tightly clutched the arm of a friend and a shriek-scream even escaped me. It was glorious, the adrenaline that comes with giddy fear. But maybe not so inspirational, so I also did these this past week:
I auditioned for a more dramatic acting role than I usually seek out in a student film project of “The Rabbit Hole.” I’ll be getting my grief on and filming this next Wednesday. I also volunteered to help lead a Drescher small group. Seeking spiritual growth is always a little scary, though maybe not as scary as it will be for anyone who comes and listens to me crack wise and wax philosophical God-talk.
As important and serious as confronting fear is, I hope you can find the joy in it, too. Facing fear doesn’t have to be a battle every time but instead can be a meeting with an old friend. Embrace it, tease it a little, and then go have a good time together. After all, we need fear in order to feel that heart-pumping, pulse accelerating feeling every once in a while. So whether it be a maze or finally asking that person out, I wish you all some heart-thumping, pulse-accelerating fear this week.
