My Take
DiVoran Lites
Fireworks are so exciting! Because he’s a pyromaniac, Bill loves them even more than I do. We knew the father and uncle of a family who every year bought bags full of fireworks and got together to blow them up on the Fourth of July. Not long ago, Bill and I were invited to that party. The kids danced and whooped as sparks boogied around their feet. An adult brought out lawn chairs for Bill and me assuring us that we sat well out of the line of fire. Two dogs stayed in the house, and I could hear the big one barking. I knew the tea-cup poodle, who was my friend, would be shivering with fear. She’d go up against any big dog anytime, but loud noises scared her. Suddenly a feisty spark landed on my bare arm, and that was enough fireworks for me. I went into the house to comfort the poor dogs and sang to them while the outside part of the gathering lasted.
Most July Fourths we drove to whatever body of water the town elders selected to reflect their extravagances. When I was a kid, our tiny community raised the money for a grand display. The town leaders went to the other side of the reservoir and arranged the fireworks for the show. The only hitch was that, as we heard later, a match fell into the main box and then all the combustibles exploded in bursts of color and sound. Unforgettable!
I can’t omit the other sort of fireworks, though it was not on Independence Day. I experienced it when Bill got a visitor’s pass for me to go out by the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) to watch the launch of the Apollo Twelve. The team of engineers he worked with effected the separation of the first stage from the second stage on the moon-landing vehicle by installing the explosives that separated the two parts. On this launch day the orange and white exhaust-plume against the blue sky was gorgeous, but the hurrahs of the crowd and the pulsating roar of the engines that seemed to shake the entire planet under my feet and travel though my body were so meaningful and unexpected that they made me want to cry.
Because of my fear, the fireworks loving family were kind enough not to ask us back for that particular holiday. Since we don’t have kids around anymore we don’t get in the car and go to wherever the pyrotechnics are. We may watch a few on Face Book or T. V., and we hear them from the neighborhood into the early morning hours, but that’s it. It’s not that we don’t appreciate all the reasons we are still an independent country, it’s just that we have found another way to be independent no matter where we are. We do it by learning to depend on Christ Jesus, Our Father, and the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and guidance through all the joys and troubles of life. We know that dependence by many people in the past and present is the answer to the question, what has made America the greatest country in the world. “God bless America,” land that I love. May He stand beside her and guide her through the night with His light from above and within.
“God Bless America,” Kate Smith
Old Things R New 