For many Georgetown students, tonight’s holiday is an opportunity for shenanigans and drinking. We dress up and dress down; we drink up and throw down.

However, it wasn’t always that way. As children, Halloween was exceptional for a different reason. The pile of candy that amassed from our neighbors was like a divine offering. Remember the sheer joy of neighborhood doors opening to reveal an enthusiastic host providing an expansive selection of confections — even if our parents hid it from us the moment we got home.

In fond recollection of these memories — and as a gesture of neighborly kindness — Georgetown students who live in townhouses and off campus should keep in mind the children who reside in the neighborhoods of Burleith and West Georgetown. Opening the door, keeping a bowl of candy close by (or a bowl of apples, if you’re into that kind of thing) and keeping the beer cans out of sight of the front door this Halloween would show great respect to the families with whom we share these beautiful neighborhoods — as small a gesture it may be.

Of course, as the kids go home, there is nothing to stop Georgetown from celebrating as usual. But for the prime hours of trick-or-treating, it will go a long way to the parents and children at Georgetown for students’ homes to be stocked with candy and for students to be welcoming to sweets-seeking guests knocking on their doors. Georgetown is both a university and a community, and this Halloween is an excellent time to prove it.