Where were you on Halloween? Based on the number of children and adults that participated in the annual Monster March and those who stopped by the Times-Journal’s office on that evening, there weren’t many doing anything else.

The two events combined to entertain and welcome hundreds of children and their families to enjoy a safe and secure way to spend the nights of tricks and treats.

The city of Selma and the Downtown Selma Association should be applauded for organizing the annual event that has become so tremendously popular. The businesses that supported the event should also be applauded for opening their doors and offering treats to those adorable ghouls and goblins that took to Selma’s downtown.

This event is a perfect example of what Selma can be and the perfect example of what Selma should be.

We must continue to find ways to bring the different facets of our community together at every opportunity. We must find events and programs that go to strengthen the bonds of this community rather than finding ways to weaken it.

The businesses that came out to support the Monster March — and the leaders who helped organize it — are multi-cultural and the children who participated represented nearly every possible demographic.

President Obama, in delivering a speech at the memorial service in Tucson, Ariz. in January 2011, said “the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.”

Although those comments were delivered in Tucson, they also reflect Selma.

The problem for Selma is that we have a hard time believing that we have far more that unites us then divides us.

Regardless of race, religion or nationally, we all want the same thing.

We all want safe streets, good schools, opportunities for jobs and a community we feel comfortable in, to call home.

With the election seasons thankfully behind us maybe now we can begin focusing on those things we agree on. Maybe now we can put the full weight of our resources on projects that go to strengthen our community.

Such projects might include the continued fight against litter, saving the YMCA of Selma and thus saving the Brown YMCA, the preservation of historical buildings like the Teppers Building and investing in our city’s infrastructure and education.

There are those groups who will without doubt rail against such positive things. These groups — in some disturbing way — profit from division and conflict. And it is these groups who need to simply stop.

The hundreds of children who came together on Halloween to have a good time are a shining example of what we can be. And it is that example that might prove to be the biggest treat of all.