Halloween Scariness

This morning, my cousin sent me one of those "getting to know you" surveys. I enjoy exchanging these with my cousin, so I answered it. One of the questions was "What are you most afraid of." She responded with something about Obama. She thinks that if he is elected president, he will do nothing to protect us from terrorists. I was not surprised by this answer, because I knew she was of that persuasion.

I did not want to give a "turnabout is fair play" answer, so I thought about what scares me most. To be honest, I'm not all that afraid. I'm deeply concerned about certain things, but I wouldn't describe it as fear.

Still, if I had to answer "what am I most afraid of?" I would have to say that it is what might happen if Obama is not elected president. I have a lot of reasons for this, which I will not go into right now.

Today is Halloween, and it's a time to think about scary things. In a fun way, if possible. So here is a fun take on scary things.

My daughter mentioned that the "Joker" from the new Batman movie will be the most popular costume this year.

I told her the Joker could never be as scary as the Penguin, as played by Burgess Meredith in the original TV series.

When I was about three or four, the Penguin scared the living daylights out of me. It was his cackle, I think. I would run to my mommy, traumatized, and she had to limit my TV watching.

My daughter is not familiar with the original Batman show, so I looked online for a video clip of the Penguin. I wanted her to see what a true comic book villain was like.

What I found was this clip of the "Batman/Penguin Debate." It turns out that my childhood fear was prescient. (And I think I need to limit my TV watching, until after the election.)