whistling in the dark
Jul. 4th, 2009 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
intjonathanIndependence day has always been a day where I worry that I'm missing the main event. I flit about at parties hoping to find the location, person, or scene that is the Awesomest Thing Possible this year. The coolest house, the sweetest pool, the least-dressed girls. It's an excuse to grill food and overdrink in the sun.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
But this year, watching one of the fountains flash in the street tonight, the image brought to mind was not one of childhood excitement or sensory indulgence, but the grainy news footage of bombings in Iraq. And I think I understood just a fraction of how this most American of holidays came to be observed the way it has. We set these booms, these flashes, whistles like falling bombs heard from trenches, and watch them from our driveways, shaking our heads at our childrens' fearless enthusiasm. We ooh and aaah at the greens and purples, the concussive booms of the big, faraway shows and await the grand finale. Furthest from our minds are the sounds and fear of the wars fought that we commemorate in this safe, fire-marshal-approved way. Shows with no scheduled start time, and no safe distance. We shoot mortars that form smiley faces and planet rings, shiny glimmers and scattering bees.
In the news this week was the scheduled withdrawals of US troops from Iraq. One NPR reporter mentioned that a note was left on their office door: "All US journalists to require Iraqi approval for entry." The note was only half kidding - the Iraqis are very much going to be running their country again, and they are rightfully happy about it. It is likely going to get more violent, less stable, and more frightening in the process of trying to build an independent Iraq again.
Tonight we saw one fountain called the "bunker buster" that shot mini firecrackers on the ground in bunches. On the side was written "LIGHT FUSE AND RUN AWAY."
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
But this year, watching one of the fountains flash in the street tonight, the image brought to mind was not one of childhood excitement or sensory indulgence, but the grainy news footage of bombings in Iraq. And I think I understood just a fraction of how this most American of holidays came to be observed the way it has. We set these booms, these flashes, whistles like falling bombs heard from trenches, and watch them from our driveways, shaking our heads at our childrens' fearless enthusiasm. We ooh and aaah at the greens and purples, the concussive booms of the big, faraway shows and await the grand finale. Furthest from our minds are the sounds and fear of the wars fought that we commemorate in this safe, fire-marshal-approved way. Shows with no scheduled start time, and no safe distance. We shoot mortars that form smiley faces and planet rings, shiny glimmers and scattering bees.
In the news this week was the scheduled withdrawals of US troops from Iraq. One NPR reporter mentioned that a note was left on their office door: "All US journalists to require Iraqi approval for entry." The note was only half kidding - the Iraqis are very much going to be running their country again, and they are rightfully happy about it. It is likely going to get more violent, less stable, and more frightening in the process of trying to build an independent Iraq again.
Tonight we saw one fountain called the "bunker buster" that shot mini firecrackers on the ground in bunches. On the side was written "LIGHT FUSE AND RUN AWAY."
