It’s time to admit our curmudgeonly ways: We’re anti-consumer fireworks.
Call us boring sticks-in-the-mud, but we think the drawbacks of lighting off your own fireworks far outweigh the momentary pleasure of briefly seeing some loud, colorful lights in the sky.
Fireworks distress people and animals, including the hundreds — if not thousands — of pets on Vashon who will cower in terror this July 4 from thunderous sounds which they can neither understand nor escape. So too will many birds, including sensitive species on Vashon, flee their nests and their young to escape the explosions.
These creatures, human or otherwise, weren’t asked for permission to light those fireworks off. Their health and happiness is simply overruled by our collective hunger to blow s—t up.
Fireworks hurt and kill people every year. In the U.S., nearly 15,000 people were treated in emergency rooms for fireworks injuries last year, according to government data. More than a third of those injuries were to hands and fingers, and nearly a quarter were to the head, face or ears.
Fireworks blast heavy metals into the air, reducing air quality. They leave behind smoldering debris and risk starting fires when not properly disposed of.
Firework calls also tie up first responders and stretch thin their ability to respond to other emergencies.
Of course, the use and sale of consumer fireworks has for several years now been prohibited in unincorporated King County, which includes Vashon.
As critics of this quintessentially American pastime, we acknowledge the deterrent value of a professional fireworks show. Folks are desperate for a fireworks fix, and if not for the professionally operated show that will occur this Friday at Quartermaster Harbor, it is likely that far more people would break the law and light off their own explosives.
And if there is a saving grace, it is that our tradition of fireworks is mostly contained to two days: July 4 and December 31. The Seventh Circle of Heck — reserved for those guilty of the most irritating, pointless and gauche crimes against society and nature — is surely populated by those dunderheads who continue to light fireworks days before or after the holiday.
Some traditions are best left in the past, and to examine them honestly is, to us, most indicative of a love for all the creatures that call this island home.
So this July 4, we ask one simple thing of you: Find a way to celebrate your country that doesn’t involve blowing it up.