What are fireworks about anyway?

Judging by the eardrum shattering, sleep depriving sounds of exploding devices all around me, I've come to the conclusion that I've either awaken in Bosnia or it's the Fourth of July.\nA quick glance at the calendar confirms my suspicion that it is that time of year when we, as Americans, celebrate our independence by blowing up everything in sight. Nothing says democracy like a "Flaming Prayerstick" or a gallon of gunpowder.\nFireworks have to be the absolute dumbest tradition we have ever invented, with the Oscar for Best Sound in a Dramatic Film coming in a close second. I've never understood the concept of shooting off flammable substances into the air and watching in awe as they explode over our heads.\n"Ooooooooh," the crowd will say as they see the sky light up.\n"Aaaaaaaaah," they'll say, as it lights up again.\nIt's like we, as a society, suddenly have a collective IQ of 10 when we watch things moving in the air. I recently read a statistic that said July 4 is the day in which the most beer is consumed all year. \nI think this creates an interesting relationship between two items that should always be linked, namely alcohol and things that explode. Because hey, if you're going to light things on fire, you may as well be drunk.\nI often wonder (about once a year), what our Founding Fathers would do if they saw us sitting in our $4 lawn chairs from Wal-Mart sitting around drinking Miller Lite and holding sparklers in our hand, celebrating the independence they earned for us.\nGeorge Washington: "What is going on here?"\nSamuel Adams: "I don't know."\nWashington: "Sam, why is your picture on that bottle of beer?"\nBen Franklin (seeing fireworks): "Strange lights in the sky. Noooooooooo, not again."\nWe take our democracy for granted. While others around the globe live under dictatorships and communist regimes, we lie under a blanket of freedom that we don't even question. The idea of it ever being taken away is absurd, because we've been brought up to know that it will never happen.\nToday, in the dawn of the 21st century, we worship those who can dunk basketballs or read the cue cards for a multi-million dollar film, and yet the actions of those of the past, those who sacrificed, get this, their actual lives, live on only in embellished tales of kites and cherry trees.\nThose who broke away from England two and a quarter centuries ago were some of the bravest men this nation has ever known. When you're David, a tiny little band of colonials living in New England, how in the world do you muster up the courage to spit in the face of Goliath? What our forefathers did, aside from all the affairs, was a remarkable thing, and the result of their actions is the undeniable charm of a certain principle we've dubbed "freedom."\nI love this country. I've had the opportunity to live overseas for three years and the only thing I learned while over there was how much I wanted to be back home. There are no fireworks celebrations in Germany. It's kind of like us celebrating Boxing Day, Canada's answer to some of our more ludicrous holidays.\nWe've been handed down, from generation to generation, the most awesome gift any civilization could ever know. The ability to live freely, the responsibility to monitor our government, and the power to elect our representatives.\nSo in this week of celebration, remember what is truly important. Remember those who risked certain death to make sure you don't live under a canopy of communism. Thank them, for allowing you to detonate things that could wipe out a small town, without some guy with an English accent telling you what to do.