Letter to the editor: Fireworks are not harmless

The world has changed so much. To think I didn’t love the annual fireworks displays, too, when I was young would be silly. But it’s not annual anymore. It’s every night lately.

I’m not young anymore, for one thing. Dogs hate them, and it is a disturbance of the peace. Neither you nor I served in any wars that resulted in a large percentage of our friends not liking the sound of explosives. There are some young people with mental illness who don’t have a family support system to see them through the confusion of random acts of explosion.

Moreover, after living through this age of mass shootings, really scary police action against people of color, hate groups threatening violence, climate change and the coronavirus, fireworks are simply an unnecessary indulgence. That is being pragmatic, not grouchy. And you are lucky to live here rather than in a drought-stricken area where shells landing in your yard can actually cause wildfires.

I don’t like the people of this area anymore, who seem to never see any of these points, and I’m ashamed of them. I am not going to agree with friends who see fireworks, set off in a random fashion, as a harmless activity.

Laurie Scheid

New Kensington