Flags and Fireworks

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I once had the opportunity to participate in a training exercise with the West Metro Fire Department. There was a demonstration for familiarity with helicopter operations by a team from Flight for Life Colorado. The pilot, a cheerful guy who happened to be Canadian, instructed us on what to do when a helicopter rescue or evacuation is called for, to anticipate and clear a good landing space. One thing, you can expect the bird will approach heading into the wind. “To determine the wind direction,” he said, “since we’re in the States, just look around and observe the nearest flag. They’re everywhere!”  

Flags everywhere! In many other countries, people have no less pride in their country than we do, but flying the national flag is something you see mostly on national holidays. Only in America, it seems, do so many people proudly fly the colors day in and day out from their homes and businesses. Now that it’s the Fourth of July, we’ll be seeing even more American flags than on most days. Besides making landings easier for helicopter pilots, flying the flag is a big part of the way we celebrate. 

Independence Day!

Another traditional part of our celebration is fireworks. After the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 2, 1776, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail,

“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations, from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”¹

Acts of devotion to God Almighty, pomp and parade, all the way down to “illuminations.” We seem to have settled pretty firmly on illuminations. Fireworks. Many cities, civic organizations, and venues such as ballparks put on lavish displays of aerial splendor for everyone to ooh and ahh. Kids point and shout, and animals get scared, and people who have been in danger from real mortars and shells can be traumatized all over again. Here in Lakewood the city-sponsored fireworks extravaganza has been replaced by a drone show on the third of July. Hope you enjoyed it! It’s an afternoon fair with music and all kinds of vendors, and a drone lightshow that begins right after dark. The precision display of technology is absolutely fantastic, and is accompanied by music played from the main stage.  

Now illegal fireworks – and they’re all illegal in Lakewood – that’s another problem these days. When I was younger a bottle rocket set off a serious roof fire across the street from where I lived, and that wasn’t well appreciated. Besides the fire danger there is the fear it causes in pets, the trauma to veterans whose PTSD lies close to the surface, and a bullying imposition on everyone who didn’t go to a fireworks display because they like to be peaceful in their own home. Then on the other hand you have those who call it freedom. For years, the West Metro Fire Department and the Southern Gables Neighborhood Association partnered in putting signs up around the neighborhood, with sayings like “We are a NO FIREWORKS Neighborhood” and “Fireworks are hazardous for firefighters and pets.” One may debate what effect they had. 

Our glorious, raucous, history-rich national holiday is a time to come together and appreciate our country. The flags and fireworks serve as symbols of patriotism, national pride, and respect for the country’s ideals of freedom and democracy. Even in the most trying of times, we must remember the ideals under which our country was formed. No matter how imperfectly we measure up in a given action or moment, the ideals remain as a goal and a guide for forming a better nation. Celebrating the independence that came at such a high cost and gave birth to our nation with those lofty ideals – imperfect as we are – makes the Fourth of July a great day for us all. 

Happy Fourth!

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