Reflections on the 4th, bombs bursting in air

Growing up in Cherry Heights, the neighborhood kids loved the 4th because Bobbie's father always lit fireworks and everyone gathered on Duncowing or Bamm Hollow to see the show. It was a bit of ritual (including the year that a skipper, of sorts, hopped across the pavement and went up Peter Boy's shorts and burnt his ass - I could be wrong, but I imagine he still has a scar to prove it...just like the time cops came to end the 4th of July festivity because the show was somewhat illegal and permits were nowhere to be found).

I also remember traveling to Loch Lebanon where our parents would bring us down to the Sharp's camp to see a few dazzlers thrown up over the lake before they all retreated from the mosquitos to play Pitch and the little kids, like me, found a couch to lay on to fall asleep, exhausted from the hotdogs, potato chips and soda.

In Louisville, I don't remember the 4th being too excited because the bombs bursting in air during Thunder Over Louisville spoiled local residents of what a real display could look like.

Still, whenever I hear the drunken laughter and whoops of adults setting their own bombs off (didn't Karl lose a mailbox one year?), I always think about what it must be like for children and adults who lived during times of war when real bombs and lights were flashing above them trying to cause their death. I can only imagine what the noise and flashes cause for traumatized victims of war, including many of the refugee groups I've worked with who have had glimmers of post traumatic stress disorder caused by malicious militaries and jets.

In the U.S., we celebrate the colors and skyline Crayolas to brag of independence, recklessness and freedom. Yet, such light shows are designed as a replication of the true violence that has killed, maimed, and destroyed so that people like me would have the right to meander thoughts like I do. Do I love it? Yes, I'm a fan of sparkle and can look at a lit Christmas tree or house of lights for hours. And No, such light reminds me that our celebratory ways can get foolish when we don't recognize what the holiday really represents. Such a day is meant to express thankfulness and I am thankful.

It's more than the spectacle. It's a reminder of our humanity: the good, the bad, and the ugly.