Fireworks 🎇 🎆 💥

I liked them as a kid, I guess.

They set them off at the park as the entire population of our small town gathered and went “Ooohhhh! & Ahhhhh.”

It all lasted about twenty minutes and finished with a huge ending that left everyone walking around saying:

“Wasn’t that great?”

Then we forgot about fireworks for another year.

Not anymore.

Now the fireworks start around halfway through June and continue the rest of the summer.

Every single neighborhood is alive with the noise and the sheer terror that sends every animal and combat veteran cowering and shaking in terror.

A dog doesn’t know what a firework is.

So, as an adult, I have grown to hate fireworks.

And the 4th of July?

This year it’s on shaky ground in my mind.

Independence Day is a day to celebrate our freedom as we left to form a Democracy.

Based on the fact that we would be a melting pot of people who would respect each other’s differences.

The church and the state would be separate entities because we were looking to escape what we perceived to be an oppressive world that was being controlled by religion.

We are about as far away from those principles than we have ever been.

There’s a faction that is now screaming that God must be involved in our governance.

White nationalism is a strategy.

There is a definite gun safety issue.

The attack on the Capitol was as serious as the attack on Pearl Harbor…

…and it came from within.

Talk about shaking in terror.

We don’t have a flag flying in front of my house this year.

I’m a little ashamed to say that, but the flag has been used as a prop in a movement that threatens the very Democracy.

I’m hoping it’s a whole lot better when every Tom, Dick, Harry and Jane shoots off the fireworks next year.

In the meantime, I’ll be trying to comfort my dog and my cat until the noise dies down.

We should all sit huddled and read the constitution.

That may help.