As I was driving into work this morning, I saw a sight that has become familiar on July 5th; Litter strewn throughout the streets, bits of paper everywhere, and a yellow haze on the horizon, all remnants of the celebration the night before.
Recently, I thought a lot about the irony of celebrating war on Independence Day, so this year, we decided to celebrate in a different way, without bombs. We had some friends over for an excellent BBQ complimented by some of the finest northwest beers, then as the sun began to set, watched as our neighbors denoted hundreds of dollars of explosives. We cranked up the music in our own yard, and had our own festival of lights. It began by dancing with LED lights, juggling light up balls, and culminated with me juggling fire poi. (If you don't know what poi is, imagine two ropes with flaming balls attached)
Some neighbors came by from down the street to watch as I spun fire within inches of my head, and they simply loved it. When they asked what we were doing, we told them that we were `celebrating without bombs'. I'm probably the only person on my block without a `W' sticker on my car, but even in this conservative navy town, my neighbors seemed to ponder the irony of celebrating independence by blowing stuff up.
The idea for doing this came last year, when we had friends over for a BBQ on the 4th, but didn't get any fireworks since it was so dry, and illegal in the city. So we decided to play croquet all night and watch our neighbors blow their crap up. While we were sitting in our backyard, hearing the whistle of fountains, the crackling of firecrackers, the sound of mortars, and the distant booming of the display over the water, a friend of mine said "This is what it must have been like in Baghdad during `shock and awe'". That's when it hit all of us, and for a moment, we didn't hear fireworks, but instead heard the sounds of war.
The 4th of July is the closest most of us will ever come to hearing actual sounds of war. And this moment was enough for all of us to sympathize with those people in Iraq who sat huddled in their homes, praying for safety. Why do we celebrate independence by recreating war?
That might not be a valid question, as there is something very red blooded American about blowing stuff up. But in this `age of terrorism' do we really want to teach our kids that blowing stuff up is cool? The kid in me loves fireworks, but the adult in me really wonders what we're really celebrating?
So starting this year, our family has decided that the 4th of July will be a celebration of freedom, peace, and liberty, and we plan on celebrating it that way, to celebrate freedom without bombs. We feast in the evening, then dance in celebration with lights and fire as it gets dark. The sounds of our neighbors detonating ordinance is a reminder of those who are paralyzed by the fear of living in a war zone, and the aftermath the next day is a reminder of how war effects everyone.
I'm wondering if anyone else has pondered this question, or if anyone else has developed peaceful ways of celebrating our independence and liberty.