New Year’s Eve was special, because it signified another exciting year ahead. In addition, some of us would get together with some fireworks our parents bought. Maybe a pack of twizzle things that you could wave around in the air, a Roman candle, some Catherine wheels and, the highlight, some rockets. They completed any display. Our parents never let us stay up until midnight. They valued their sanity more.
Our parents were not trusting of our fireworks abilities, so they seemed to be around us for lighting, and all the other fun parts. Not that that stopped some of the boys, who were a menace with their squibs. They'd light them on the way to school and throw them on the ground in front of you. Those things would hop and let off a huge bang! We never expected more - just looked forward to the next time. It didn't cost much, because there wasn't much money for such things.
Money rules
Later came the fireworks. Glitzy, impossibly extravagant, dazzling eye-and-ear-popping firework displays filled the skies all over the world for a few ooh-ah minutes. Notable among these was Dubai, the Mecca for extremely wealthy folks. We won't go too deeply into the underbelly of all the glamor, the severely impoverished, the grindingly poor migrants who ensure the comfort of those rich people. Nevertheless, these pictures give some idea of poverty among the general display of cosseted wealth.
Surely in 2016 we should start developing some sensitivity about the painful poverty of so many in the world? I'm advocating a halt to fireworks. They're outdated, completely frivolous and obscenely unnecessary. Imagine how different things could be if all that money presently burned on a five minute orgy of explosions was donated to the plight of those desperate migrants fleeing poverty, natural disaster and man-made wars?
Perhaps they wouldn't need to leave their countries. Maybe they could receive the tools of an education.
The grinch who stole Christmas ain't got nuthin’ on me, as I urge a stop to the fireworks, and a massive push on helping those less fortunate. It's time to start appreciating the wonders of this world as we go into 2016. The rose tinted glasses are rapidly fogging up.
Vicki