Independence Day

A serious post here.  This past holiday event, Independence Day, got me to think a different way than I ever have before.  I want to open your eyes as well. Everyone needs to be aware, and considerate, and think about it some. 

July 4 every year our nation celebrates our Independence Day with BBQ and beer and fireworks.  If nothing else, Fireworks is the one thing almost everyone participates in. The cities spend lots of money and put on great fireworks shows.  It's beautiful to watch them light up the sky.

Something we need to realize is, the fireworks are loud. They make loud BOOM noises.  The noises sounds like guns and bombs going off if you might be living in another country that you hear that noise often.  For me, it sounds like fireworks.  For the one I love, it gave him flashbacks to the war he has been fighting since he joined the Army in 2002.  I never thought about the affects our fireworks, our normal traditions on American Soil affect our military men and woman.  I looked into it a little, and found this article:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/4th-july-fireworks-nightmare-shell-shocked-war-veterans/story?id=19554318#.UdmXZ9iXuSo


 Once I realized that the noises I was taking for granted, enjoying, made him feel the way it did, it put the fireworks in a whole new perspective.  I was no longer enjoying this beautiful site, yet having my own 'flashbacks' of what it might be like for our men and women who are in the middle of this 10-year war and what they may be dealing with.  As someone who will never go to war, I will never fully understand, but this can put it in some perspective...