One of the most notable aspects of celebrating the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence [1] is the tendency of people and communities to engage in fireworks displays. As is often the case in life, my feelings about fireworks are somewhat mixed and nuanced and complicated. On the one hand, I greatly enjoy watching elegant fireworks displays provided I can watch them from a position of safety. On the other hand, when I merely hear the sound of firing guns and loud noises, I tend to be somewhat easily spooked and find it difficult to sleep peacefully with so much unpleasant or even violent noise. What can be a source of great enjoyment in some circumstances can become a cause of restless and anxious insomnia in other circumstances. Fireworks are certainly not the only phenomenon to have this varied and divided response, but they are certainly a topical one to discuss.
Here in Oregon, as in many other parts of the United States, the sale of fireworks is particularly heavy around this time of year. In the parking lots of grocery stores tents spring up full of authorized fireworks sales that serve to benefit different causes. The tent next to the gas station I normally go to, for example, promotes the well-being of the Portland State University cheerleaders. One would think that there would be safer places than parking lots next to gas stations to put large stores of fireworks. Stores that are open year round have negative advertisements against these temporary operations pointing to their greater expertise, better products, and year-round presence. Beyond the legal use of fireworks, which is extensive, Portland has a well-earned reputation for its illegal fireworks, to the point where there are even public service announcements about the health dangers of illegal fireworks. These advertisements do not stop people from seeking to have fireworks shows that would be the envy of small towns in their front lawns or the streets in front of their houses at 2 or 3AM when they should be sleeping or writing.
One of my most unusual experiences with fireworks was when I went on a work trip from Tampa, Florida to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in April 2010. Along the way, despite my gouty foot (it was during my second period of gout attacks), I had to drive in shifts with other coworkers during the trip. In northern Alabama, as we followed the trail of the interstate going west from Chattanooga, we had to get gasoline, and I saw a sight that greatly puzzled and concerned me. Here, in this remote area, there was a gas station filled with all kinds of fireworks on a regular basis. I have already noted my concerns about large stands of fireworks located in parking lots next to gas stations, as occurs in my neighborhood in Oregon. To see fireworks located directly within a gas station was very alarming. The whole building, which was likely the only gas station for miles, was one drunk redneck lighting off some kind of firework prematurely from an epic explosion. The daring owner of that particular hybrid fireworks store/gas station had far more faith in the restraint of his customers than I did, and I felt a lot safer when we had continued our path far away from that danger.
Fireworks, of course, were a part of gunpowder weapons that were invented in about the 7th century by the Chinese. By the time of the Song Dynasty, they were sufficiently well-developed to be purchased by the common person and used as rockets during times of war [2]. There is an irony in this. The Song Dynasty was a period in which the Chinese were particularly weak in the military sense, and yet they had been developing gunpowder for centuries, yet unable to use this effectively against the Jurchens or Mongols or any of their other more powerful nomadic enemies. They had gunpowder being freely used by their people but could not harness the close order military tactics and weaponry development necessary to use that gunpowder to protect their state and its people from murderous enemies. Having the means of self-protection and knowing what to do with it is not the same thing. To add to the ironies, many centuries later, the British (and others) would use their own gunpowder weapons to dominate a weak China during the 19th century, despite the fact that by this time China had been familiar with gunpowder for more than a millennium, while the Europeans only started working on gunpowder weapons in earnest from about the 1400’s. The possession of time does not always ensure that the time will be used wisely, after all.
There is yet a further irony in all of this as far as it relates to the United States. It is well-known that “The Star-Spangled Banner” was written by Baltimore poet Francis Scott Key thanks to his own experiences while watching Baltimore’s Ft. McHenry withstand the assaults of the British fleet, forcing them to withdraw from the Chesapeake. That brave moment was a far more noble incident than the prior “Bladensburg Races” that had led to the burning of much of Washington DC during the War of 1812. The lines “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” demonstrate the fact that so long as a defender kept up morale, the Congreve rockets used by the British fleet caused injuries but did not manage to dislodge the American defenders. The general effectiveness of the rockets could be disrupted through simple trench warfare, which limited their effectiveness after the War of 1812 (since the Americans did not entrench in that conflict). Yet the same rockets that were used as a weapon of war are now used to launch fireworks to celebrate our nation’s birth.
Not all peoples celebrate by launching beautiful fireworks in the air. Although I have been fortunate in my travels to be in countries where such celebrations were normal, some nations celebrate by slightly more dangerous means. While it is enjoyable to watch sparklers light up the night, not all celebrations are as peaceful. It is not an enjoyable thing to hear the fire of guns in the air, as that is a vastly more dangerous form of celebration, especially if people are not wise enough to recognize that the bullets will eventually fall and can cause damage when they are pulled downward by gravity. In some unlucky circumstances, one can imagine a celebration with Kalashnikovs fired blindly and happily in the air starting a feud when they kill a neighbor’s goats. Let’s celebrate safe, people.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/not-like-a-real-fourth-of-july/
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/a-fourth-of-july-abroad/
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/what-to-get-for-the-nation-who-has-everything/
[2] Gernet, Jacques (1962). Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250–1276. Translated by H.M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 186. ISBN 0-8047-0720-0.
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