I love Halloween.
It brings out the scariest, the weirdest and the most insane parameters of the dark side that lurk inside of people’s minds. And obviously, this year is no exception. But thankfully, this year I am fully prepared, because I have my new “Ebola Halloween Containment” costume to go out with on Halloween night.
One can never be too careful, right?
Ebola could be lurking anywhere. Who knows where those little, nasty body fluids are hiding? They could be in any one of the tasty treats that people will throw into my Halloween bucket this year.
Tiny, microscopic droplets that will cling onto my plastic pumpkin like an octopus’ tentacles getting ready to suffocate the life out of me within the next 21 days.
Boo-hoo.
My Ebola Containment Suit costume cost only $79.99 and I got it with a click of the mouse. It comes with everything I’ll need to stay safe from the scourge of Ebola. It has a full body suit, a face shield, a breathing mask, blue latex gloves and eye goggles.
It doesn’t come with anything to protect my neck or my feet though, so I guess I’ll have to improvise. Now I know how those nurses in Dallas, Texas felt when they had to deal with Ebola.
Can’t protect it all, right?
Some people may question the manufacturer’s timing in selling such a morbid, Halloween costume, and especially at a time when Ebola is spreading so much fear and panic. But is it any different from what other retailers do to capitalize on a tragedy and make a quick buck?
Fear, uncertainty and panic are the best tools salesmen sometimes use to double their profit margin.
Tragedies bring out the best or the worst in people. It can also cast a wave of other emotions. It’s how we deal with those emotions though that define our mental stability and how calm we stay.
Some people use humor. Others crawl into a hole and die, and some people refuse to acknowledge even that a problem exists. It’s easier to ignore the problem and hope that it goes away, right?
For some people, laziness, ignorance and inattentiveness are the best coping mechanisms.
Some people will probably be shocked this Halloween when a partygoer wearing an Ebola Containment Suit costume comes knocking at their door. “Oh my god, did you see what that guy is wearing!” They will say to each other. “That’s disgusting!”
Or maybe, to them, it’s simply – politically incorrect?
Is it any different from all the zombie costumes kids will be wearing on Halloween this year?
When I go to a Halloween costume party next week, I’m going to wear my Ebola Containment Suit costume. It’s not that I want people to think that Ebola could be hiding there and that they should be afraid.
I just want to make some people realize that sometimes fear and panic is only an illusion.
Don’t get me wrong, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa is not an illusion and is something we should take very seriously. When or where a virus spreads and how it spreads does not make a difference while there are people getting sick and dying.
And the naysayers can take that little fact about Ebola to the bank.
But on Halloween this year, let people have some fun.
Humor and laughter can sometimes be the best medicine for what frightens us the most.
Joseph E. Rathjen is a freelance writer and an Opinion Columnist at 1World Online – America’s Fastest Growing Research Engine.
The Political and Social Chaos Blog 
I like the costume. Too bad somebody didn’t come up with a good terrorist costume, there’s a hell of a lot more fear and panic from THAT illusion then from Ebola. We’re still dealing with the fallout from that over 10 years later. The terrorists had to be cheering us on as we destroyed ourselves in our fear and panic over 9-11.
At least Ebola is a real disease, there is some pretty good reason to be afraid of it, unlike the terrorists. Their only real weapon is fear after all. If we did not give in to it, we would have no trouble from them.
[ Laughs ] It almost looks real. However, a lot of people are already scared of the Ebola virus; the suit will only magnify those fears.