Dear Editor: It may be hard for some to understand how something that has come to represent freedom can be seen as a kind of tyranny. Fireworks.
There are many paths that lead from the childlike joy that fireworks can give to what I would call dripping water torture except with noise. The change in my views started with caring for someone whose biggest relief from pain came with sleep, and my own growing insomnia, fueled by the knowledge of how important sleep is to our health now being hammered home by the medical community. Lastly, by the abject terror of a dog who came into my life as a solace in times of grief and the insults of advancing age.
Others have watched loved ones dropping to the ground in a reaction that saved their lives but now is just a reminder of a hell they lived through. Some have jobs where we all want them to be at their best. Sleep-deprived air traffic controllers leap to mind, but many other kinds of small errors could affect your life in serious ways. I am hoping that some sort of livable compromise can be arrived at, perhaps at least some reduced time limits that would at least give a sense of predictability to the fireworks with some mechanism of enforcement. If this is a subject that you feel can affect your life, please come to the Police and Fire Commission meeting at Centennial Hall on Wednesday, the 26th, at 5:30. Let’s engage in finding a way to allow some to enjoy fireworks and a way for others to tolerate them.
Connie LaPerriere, Sitka
