Fireworks

Right now people are setting off illeagal fireworks on the golf course next to our home. It's far enough away that I really don't mind. People do it every year.

What is it about fireworks that make us ooo and ahhh? I think it is different for different people. For some people it's the beautiful sky display, for others the noise invokes a spirit of patriotism, for me, it's everything else.

What does that mean? Have you ever watched the world around you during a fireworks show? Have you ever looked around you, besides up at the sky to see what the world looks like under exploding light? It is amazing. The colors and the light make everything appear so ethereal. The light is never harsh like say a fluorescent bulb or beating like the sun. It is a soft glow that brightens and then fades, then replaced my another. When you couple that with the inner glow of the faces watching the show, the world seems a very different place.

I think you have to have the combination of the people glad to see the display and the light together. When you see the fireworks displayed by a bomb or other type of explosion, where fear is coupled with the same type of light, there is a grotesque look about the people. There is no glow. It's almost like there is a black hole, sucking the light in but not letting it out.

This holiday weekend, take a look around you as you view the show. Look at the glow in the faces and the earth around you, enjoy it, revel in it. Try to figure out how to make it last.