4/7 and 5/11 (i.e. 7/4 or 11/5*)

Fireworks to mark Independence Day!

So what's it all about?

I think it approximates to a kind of November 5th equivalent although there is a vital difference in that the unfortunate Brits do not get a national holiday to celebrate the capture of Guy Fawkes and his gang who attempted to blow up the Parliament in London.

Early 'terrorists' you might say; although they weren't Islamists but Roman Catholics. Zeitgeist plays its part here too.

That observation aside, the Brits do get to set off their fireworks on 5th November after they come home from work and darkness descends.

David Pike has written a wonderful poem. It's about New Year's Eve as it happens, so it's also about fireworks. If you are lucky you will catch it on the 'David Pike YouTube Poet' at the YouTube Link at the bottom of the page. I have found it there several times. Of course you could always go to YouTube and find 'David Pike YouTube Poet' there or visit him at the Pulsar website via my A-Z Links.

So what's my point? My point is that we still celebrate (if that's the right word) events from hundreds and even thousands of years ago as if they happened yesterday. Does this make any kind of sense?

In a few hundred years time will Americans be setting off fireworks to celebrate the killing of Osama Bin Laden for example?

I think it's high time we grew up and put all this firework nonsense behind us. What does it achieve apart from causing more pollution, noise, alarm to animals, associated drunkenness, and a misapprehension of what the world is all about.

I'm sorry to be a damp squib but surely the time has come for us to take a closer look at the damage we are doing to our planet. We should think of more sensitive and sensible ways to carry out our celebrations; to signal a new and better way for mankind to go.

*

in the fashion of the USA

the month before the day