Somewhere between trick-or-treating and freshman year of high school, we lost our innocence. Halloween evolved from a harmless night of Hershey overdosing and the possibility that the creepy guy down the street spiked his candy, to an all-out, weekend-long booze-fest highlighted by the presence of more skin than a weekend on Miami Beach. So what’s wrong with this? Aside from the fact that I’ve seen the same “slutty” police officer and “studly” fireman costumes ad nauseam over my seven years spent in Halloween debauchery, absolutely nothing. Halloween is brilliant in all its revealing glory.

I’m not a stickler for tradition. When it comes to Halloween, I’m a live-in-the-moment kind of guy. Who cares that the holiday is rooted in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhein? Halloween should be appreciated in regard to the current zeitgeist. It has evolved into a much higher form, that is, until you get tired of partying. But by then you’ll probably have kids, so you’ll be right back where you started. To those who would argue that Halloween should stay grounded in its roots, and that its current incarnation is offensive, I would simply respond, “Sorry for partying.”

There is a stretch of a few years in our lives when we are not under the oppression of “the Man.” If lucky, we have a few years of high school (unless your parents were “the Man”), and then our years in college. After that, lame stuff like jobs starts to rub away at all the cool stuff, like fun and free time. When you start drinking your beer out of glass instead of a Solo cup, you’ll know that time has come. It is our collegial responsibility to take full advantage of these fruitful years. “Ridiculous” should be a word you commonly use to describe your life, let alone your activities. “Fear” is a word that should never be uttered, unless, of course, you fear that your level of awesomeness is falling below acceptable levels. When one of those adult figures asks you what you study in college, ignore her and say, “I go hard.” We throw responsibility to the wind, until, of course, we need to get something done. And then we do that to the best of our abilities. That is going hard.

Holidays like Halloween provide us the opportunity to maximize the potential of such a vivacious outlook on life. Ignore the naysayers who criticize Halloween for being too risqué. Halloween is a time to go nuts, to let go of inhibitions. There is something to be said for the benefits of having a weekend of hilarity, raw carnality and suggestive adventure. To those who think that Halloween is too centered on alcohol or too risqué: You are in a costume, it’s not like people can tell who you are. Duh.

With that being said, I urge you to wear your slutty police officer costumes proudly, embrace the pain of freezing pectoral muscles while you strut around in your fireman costume with suspenders as a shirt. Halloween is an inspiring spectacle. Make those Samhein-celebrating Celts wish they could party with us. They’d be honored to see how far their holiday has come.