Paradigm Shift
Jul. 5th, 2003 12:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuUsually I grouse each year about how we celebrate our freedom on July Fourth with a dwindling number of legal fireworks. Oregon has gotten so restrictive that pretty much anything that flies, explodes or does anything but burn gently is verboten. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
snippy and I walked over to the park earlier tonight to watch the fireworks being used there. There was a quite dramatic fireworks show being staged by some scofflaws in the baseball diamond. Other scofflaws, considerably less concerned with common sense, were playing with fireworks in the street on the far side of the park. And we could hear and see fireworks being used in every direction as well. The city was pretty well awash in flying, whistling, exploding blasts of color.
A father and three young children were sitting near wheresnippy and I stopped to watch the shows. They were discussing the fireworks they were seeing, and the father apparently had explained to them that the fireworks being used were illegal. His little girl was of the opinion that they should go get some illegal fireworks and shoot them off. Dad agreed that that wasn't a bad idea.
So we had a nice normal family grouping watching scofflaws ignoring the nanny state's laws, casually discussing joining in the the rebellious revelry. And I suddenly saw the annoying rules about what lame-ass fireworks we were allowed to use to celebrate our freedom as an opportunity for millions of Americans to pass on a very timely lesson. What better way to celebrate Independence Day than to thumb your nose at the government--and teach your kids to do the same.
snippy and I walked over to the park earlier tonight to watch the fireworks being used there. There was a quite dramatic fireworks show being staged by some scofflaws in the baseball diamond. Other scofflaws, considerably less concerned with common sense, were playing with fireworks in the street on the far side of the park. And we could hear and see fireworks being used in every direction as well. The city was pretty well awash in flying, whistling, exploding blasts of color.A father and three young children were sitting near where
snippy and I stopped to watch the shows. They were discussing the fireworks they were seeing, and the father apparently had explained to them that the fireworks being used were illegal. His little girl was of the opinion that they should go get some illegal fireworks and shoot them off. Dad agreed that that wasn't a bad idea.So we had a nice normal family grouping watching scofflaws ignoring the nanny state's laws, casually discussing joining in the the rebellious revelry. And I suddenly saw the annoying rules about what lame-ass fireworks we were allowed to use to celebrate our freedom as an opportunity for millions of Americans to pass on a very timely lesson. What better way to celebrate Independence Day than to thumb your nose at the government--and teach your kids to do the same.
