I wrote this last night after being jolted awake several times from the ongoing audial assault of fireworks.They were being exploded right over the top of my little house, causing it to shake and causing my heart to race. From inside my house, it felt as though I was at the center of a prolonged firing squad with shots being fired all around me. I did my best to ignore the incessant cacophony, but each time I dozed off, I was re-awakened by a thunderbolt of still louder and more rapid firings of explosives. It was not only last night, but for the past five successive nights in a row.
What perverse sense of entertainment brings people out in droves to participate in this ghastly, costly, and dangerous activity? It is no longer something to endure for a single night or even once a year. New year’s eve and any reason that people use as an excuse to celebrate in this manner, has become “normal.” The air is filled with putrid smoke that works its way through my open windows, as though the shattering of my nerves was not enough to cause me despair.
These people believe that the fireworks are pretty to watch, but I believe that a rainbow is far more beautiful. I saw a partial one while driving home from work, after a cleansing rainstorm.
What is more beautiful than the sunsets that are on display for us every evening of every day? The configuration of clouds and light presents us with a unique and often breathtaking visual dessert nearly every day of the year. These are not dangerous. They cost nothing and they make no sound. They do not produce noxious fumes. They are free for everyone to watch. Do these same people ever bother to look up at the wondrous sky, at the clouds – or to notice a rainbow?
As I listen to the non-stop explosions outside my bedroom window, echoing and ricocheting off the neighboring houses, I can only think how terrifying it must be to be living in a war torn country where bombs are going off continually. Veterans returning from wars in which they had fought, struggle to remain calm during these violent holiday rituals. Fireworks have been banned in many parts of the country due to drought and wildfires. However; this town of cowboy mentality cares not about the pain and suffering it inflicts on others. They do not understand that what they perceive as fun, strikes terror in the hearts of other people and animals. The aftermath of their celebration can be seen in the strange objects I must pick up from my yard. The aftermath is the pollution of the minds of their small children, who cannot see the harm that is being done.
