Things That go “BOOM” in the night

I have a beef with the Chinese.

No, it has nothing to do with Tik-Tok, Taiwan, or the balance of trade. It seems that darn near 3,000 years ago, some Chinese alchemist mixed up sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal, poured it into a bamboo tube, lit a fuse and –KaBoom! The gizmos caught on and are now as ubiquitous a part of the local scene as chow mien and General Tso’s Chicken – except that when the guy up the block overdoes it on Szechwan Pork it doesn’t keep me up half the night. The double whiz-ban, super-duper exploding skyrockets he’s so fond of are another story…

Yeah, the Fourth of July is upon us and across the country dogs are cowering behind sofas and shower curtains as otherwise likeable folks launch random packets of explosives to celebrate their freedom to wake up the entire neighborhood.

Alright, as a former 13-year-old boy I fully understand the attraction of things that go “Boom!” in the night. My buddies and I chafed at Minnesota’s nanny-state legislation enacted to preserve eyes, fingers, and old people’s sleep. We were eager customers for the fellows from the duck-tail and black leather jacket set who’d make a weekend run to Missouri or South Dakota and return with a trunkful of pyrotechnics…for sale in the alley behind the pool hall as soon as the town cop went to bed. They got a premium price for those bottle rockets and Black Cats, but we were glad enough to shell out top dollar along with a blood oath not to disclose where we got ‘em if we were to run afoul of the local law.

Times have changed, but it’s still illegal to light up the Minnesota sky with things that go “Bang!” But instead of a late-night rendezvous with a local hood in a ’57 Ford, the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi is lined with tents, pavilions, and year-round merchandizers offering firepower the likes of which would rout Patton’s Third Army.

Now I’ll in no way concede that an affection for a good night’s sleep in any way besmirches a guy’s patriotism or speaks ill of his love of country. After all, flags wave silently in a quiet breeze. The “Star Spangled Banner” does sing of “bombs bursting in air,” but remember those were British bombs launched to seriously annoy the American defenders of Fort McHenry – in no small part by denying them a decent night’s sleep. It’s a song written early in the morning by a sleepy, cranky man who’s clearly had it with late night pyrotechnics. I have a hunch that on that morning his choice for a national anthem would have been something on the order of “Silent Night.”

Yes, it’s the end of the barrage the anthem celebrates, the end of the long night of conflict and the dawning of a new and, hopefully, peaceful day.

We’re not standing on the deck of a British frigate looking out on a bomb ravaged fortress; ours are battles of a different sort and, I fear, our long night of conflict is far from over. What we think, say, and do – as individuals and as communities – will decide what we will see in the coming “dawn’s early light.”

There’s no pretending that some of our divisions haven’t grown broad and deep. There’s a lot of hurt, anger, arrogance and pride out there, swirling about in a toxic mix that threatens the civil fabric that holds us together. It’s a mix we can add to or step back from.

Those steps don’t have to be big. Take a pass on making that cutting remark. Leave the T-shirt with the provocative slogan in the dresser drawer. Remember your neighbors enjoying their peace before you touch a match to that mammoth starshell … literally, or in other ways.

Simply put, let’s just be good to one another.

That’s all.

It’s enough.