I hate the 4th of July almost as much as I hate Halloween. Call me a party pooper and unpatriotic, but I think these are the two most OBNOXIOUS holidays ever invented. Both are an invasion of my peace and tranquility while I am in my own home. For the past two days, it sounds like a war zone here with "bombs" bursting in air and bottle rockets whistling overhead, giving proof through the night that my neighbors are nuts. Firecrackers continually popping, M-80s rattling the dishes, cherry bombs, and all sorts of illegal fireworks going off all over, setting off car alarms and the police have given up trying to do a damn thing about it. My mother has to drug her poor dog so she doesn't have a nervous breakdown, and my Bearded Dragon is scared shitless and plastered to the floor of her tank.I like to see the Chicago Fireworks at Navy Pier which are beautiful, so I am not a total fireworks scrooge; I just don't understand what fun there is in blowing up sticks of dynamite in your backyard while yelling 'YEEEHAAAWWW" and "WOOOOHOOOOO!" I cannot understand the fun in taking a week's salary and sending it up in flames. People have ZERO consideration for their neighbors, and have ZERO concern for themselves. My nephew and his wife are paramedics and they could write books on what happens to people on the 4th of July. Missing fingers is the most popular call they get, sometimes a limb, sometimes people blind themselves, blow their toes or whole foot off -- and not to forget about those first, second and third degree burns!
In addition to the bodily injuries is property damage when one of these explosives goes awry and ends up going through someone's house or ignites their roof in flames. Sirens have been blaring off and on since the weekend started. When I was a kid, the 4th was ONE day of fireworks, maybe two...but nowdays it starts in mid June and continues till everyone is done exploding everything they have, which can be until the end of July.
Human beings are bizarre creatures.
Latest News link: Data: Fireworks injuries on the rise
8 comments:
Why do you hate America Stardust?
;-)
Onw thing that's perverse about fireworks is that the ones most supportive of them as symbols of patriotism are conservatives who claim to support veterans... but veterans often DISLIKE fireworks because the explosions remind them of actually being in combat. (I know my father, a Vietnam vet, has refused to go to 4th fireworks since I was a kid, and I bet he's not alone.)
Personally, I agree with you -- they're wasteful and the designs are not particularly original. I wonder how many homeless people we could help with the money we spend on one show? Here's one company's price list; notice the fine print -- it doesn't include salaries, lodging, security or transport, which I'm sure would double or triple the cost.
tommykey - Because I am a liberal commie hippie scumbag! :-D
jay denari- thanks for that link. Those figures are appalling! You are right, look at all the meals that would provide for hungry people. And they don't have fireworks just on the 4th anymore, in Chicago they are like every Saturday now, and at SOX games when they hit a home run, and when they happen to win. What a WASTE when it could go to other things. My husband and I were invited by some friends of ours to go downtown on July 22 to see the fireworks and we declined. I see the Chicago fireworks on television if I remember to watch, however, we don't make a special trip down there anymore. We've been down for the fireworks a couple of times and it's like a Godzilla movie afterwards with all the people swarming down Michigan Avenue and other streets. We have never bought fireworks to explode on our own, not even when we were young. We just don't like them at all, never have.
I know what you mean about the veterans disliking explosives. We had a next door neighbor when I was a kid whose son came back from VietNam and it was hell for him on the 4th, and that was back in the days where fireworks were relatively mild compared to now. I can't imagine what it would be like for veterans coming back from combat and have to hear this crap year after year after year. I jump out of my skin when these things go off and I have never been to war.
More than 6,000 U.S. Children Injured by Fireworks Annually
Evan taylor - I can understand your perspective. :-)
On the other hand, the large explosive fireworks have caused some children and adults to lose their hearing which is a real shame.
“Most people are aware that fireworks can injure your eyes and hands or cause burns but many people do not know that a firecracker is in the upper range of noise that is considered hazardous to your hearing. Noise-induced hearing loss can happen from exposure to one loud noise or from repeated exposure to less intense noise over a period of time and the damage can be permanent,” said KCDHH Commissioner Susan Brown, an audiologist at Murray State University. Brown is one of 14 commissioners from across Kentucky."
4th of July day and night was HORRENDOUS here in yuppieville! Sounded like neighbors on BOTH sides of us were launching MISSLES from their backyards. These lots are not that big...75x125. If one of those suckers went sideways it would most definitely blow a hole in our house. Most of us have wooden fences and decks. I was expecting something to go up in flames. My Beardie sat with her beard puffed out all evening in fear. I HATE THIS HOLIDAY.
I hate fireworks...not when I'm actually there watching them...but when you hear them from a few miles away...it sounds like war attacks and it totally freaks me out. There are people in this world who hear real bombs exploding in the distance...who live in war...and we celebrate it...I hate fireworks.
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