Thoughts on the Fourth, Fireworks, and some other stuff.

(Will probably read more like a journal entry than a snazzy blog post.)

As a child, I was terrified of fireworks. I hated the loudness that seemed to echo in my lungs. I still don’t really like that part. I have since grown to love them; but not for the lights and the noise. No, I love them because they make me think.

1.     I am listening to the sounds of explosions, aware that this is not my everyday life; this is celebration. I am aware that in many places, these sounds would be utterly terrifying. In our celebrations let us not forget the ones for whom these sounds and lights are not joyful. I am remembering the war-torn lands, remembering to pray, remembering to be thankful that I have been born into safety.

2.     New Years 2011-2012. I watched them from the window of my sister’s apartment in Korea. I woke up enough to get up and watch a few sparkle over the city, remembering that at home it was not even afternoon yet. Living in the future.

3.     New Years 2012-2013. I woke up to see them erupt over our hotel in Tyrol, Austria. I thought about how all over the world they would be exploding. Celebration, all over the world. A celebration the world shared together. And I was thinking about Heaven. When Jesus’ Kingdom becomes the ultimate reality, how beautiful must the sky look then! A celebration that never ends!

4.     Tonight, July 4 2014, we sat and watched them in a school parking lot with lots and lots and lots of other people. Do Americans just not clap, or were we too in awe to make noise? Would there have been noise in other countries? And then we stampede to our cars when it is over, and the honking begins. And the joy is stained because of the impoliteness. It is as if once you are in a car, you are no longer human, no longer worth anyone’s eye contact or respect.

As it is Independence Day, I want to say, I do not support many of the United States’ policies and systems. I do not appreciate many of the ways this culture operates.

However, I do appreciate my ability to say this legally. I appreciate being able to do most everything (even if the culture begrudges it sometimes) that a man does. I appreciate living in a land that is not wrought with war. I do not want to squander my privileges.

I do not want to fall asleep to these booms without remembering those for whom they are not a cause for celebration.