When we first moved here from Ohio, some 13 years ago, and I asked about neighborhood fireworks, two neighbors told me, “It’s a tradition.” Now I ask — it’s a tradition to frighten Iraq War veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder? It’s a tradition to terrorize elderly seniors? It’s a tradition to frighten pets so they run away or have to be heavily medicated? It’s a tradition to shoot fireworks at neighbors’ homes and yards? It’s a tradition not to clean up streets and others’ properties after creating a mess? It’s a tradition to continue exploding fireworks throughout the night, so that people working the next day get little or no sleep? It’s a tradition to explode fireworks days before and after July 4th? It’s a tradition to show no respect for new neighbors whom firework users don’t bother to know?
Don Greenwood
Vancouver
