Bombs Bursting in Air · 12 July 2025
Independence Day 2025 is done and over with, and I am pretty much done and over with Fourth of July Celebrations.
Now, I am not a fuddy duddy. Or a stick in the mud. Or a naysayer. No bah humbug in me. Not really. I am just not that interested in fireworks anymore. Which is odd in and of itself.
When I was younger, I would love to shoot off firecrackers. We would throw them high in the air or as far as we could to see if they would explode in the air. Or we would hold those explosive cylinders between our fingers for as long as we could so we could throw them into the water and see them explode just above or just below the surface. It was great fun. Of course, we had a few of them explode in our fingers and by our ears too. Those hurt. Our fingers got cuts on them and our ears rung for what seemed like hours. But it did not matter, we just changed our technique and did not wait so long to throw them and we did not pull our arms back behind our heads when we threw them. Simple fix. Oh. And we did not throw ladyfingers. The adults used to ask, “You know why they call those ladyfingers, don’t you?” We would just nod that we did not. “It’s because they blow your fingers off.”
Well, I am not sure that it made any more sense then than it does now, but it did not matter. Those tiny firecrackers were louder than any other of the firecrackers that we got even though they were so much tinier. So we were not going to test out the adults’ theory. We were not going to lose any fingers. We didn’t mess with cherry bombs or anything bigger either. Those things would mess you up. And tying a bunch of them together? No siree. We were not going to lose fingers, hands, eyes, ears, or any other body parts messing with that kind of firepower.
Besides the firecrackers, the fireworks were fun too. We loved to see them fly up in the air and make their big flower shapes and see their bright colors. It was always great fun.
But even though I used to love fireworks and firecrackers, I could care less anymore. Oh sure. I still like to see the rockets’ red glare. Those beautiful colors with the flower shapes. (By the way, there is not much of a different shape that an explosion can make besides a sphere, which kinda looks like a flower. Just sayin’.) I love them. And those rockets that spiral up and leave a wonderful trail in the sky. Magnificent. Like I said, I still love the rockets’ red glare.
The problem is the bombs bursting in air. I could do without that. No. I never served in the military (but I thank those who did and do). I do not get flashbacks. I just do not like the noise. Boom! Boom! Boom! All night long. No fun there. I mean c’mon. I even wear ear protection at church. (I would rather they turn down the volume so I could hear people around me singing. Even if they sing off key. But that is a different story.)
Now I understand that some of the big booms come from launching the fireworks into the air. And I get that some of the big booms come from launching the fiery projectiles from their casings to get the wonderful blooms in the air. But if they could tone down the sound, I would be happy. I would be amazed at the rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting quietly in air. But that is not the reality of things. And so I am pretty much done with the Fourth of July celebrations. Or at least with the noisy fireworks. (But I do not begrudge others having them. After all, I can fall asleep pretty much any time, any place.)
I hope that you had a great Independence Day celebration, even if I do not enjoy your bombs bursting in air so much. For when all is said and done, all the noise is about hope and freedom. And those are concepts worth celebrating.
© 2025 Michael T. Miyoshi
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| Hyperbole, Exaggeration, and Irony |