“Seen them once, seen them all," was my motto for why I always skipped out on firework shows. Fireworks were all the same in my opinion. The sparklers, shooting stars, and the upside-down smiley face; they all made their debut every summer.
However, this 4th of July was different. The Fray would be performing in my hometown so all that jargon listed above would have to wait until next year. This firework show would not only be different but maybe even be “Over My Head” (the Fray fans you see what I did there).
After a perfectly nostalgic and on-key performance from the Fray, the fireworks began. Ten minutes into the show, my brain starts rattling off parallels from the noise of the fireworks to old memories. ‘I know I’ve heard this noise some else….’ I kept telling myself. Oddly enough, it wasn’t from a fireworks show.
Subconsciously my mind drew up that connection and placed me at my old news desk. Where for hours and days at a time I would “listen, clip, cut, produce,” on repeat until a new trending story dropped on my desk.
Closing my eyes and listening in, I recanted the blind noise I heard from the fireworks show and paired it with the same booms I heard from editing unseen, bombing footage of Syria.
Eerie.
Creating a parallel between those two worlds, I realized that there weren’t significant differences between the mechanics and combustion of a firework and a bomb.
Convicted at the reality of those two worlds, I dialed through possible solutions that could put an end to the chaos in Syria. Frustrated, I sighed and concluded my experience with this irony:
Over here, this perfectly-aligned chemical combustion fills me up with national pride. Dazzling my eyes and ears with majestic beams of light and deafening sounds; exciting me well past the grand finale.
On the other side, whenever the same boom echoes across different parts of the world, it only means one thing: “duck for cover.”
Now, curiosity begs me to ask, what do you think?
What do you think after:
1.) Cable news is turned off for the day, and you're out of earshot from your co-workers and family members.
2.) All set to check into bed, so exhausted that your day-to-day mask has fallen off, revealing the naked thoughts and untold truths of your heart.
3.) Slowly reading this while two eyelid drifts away from sleep.
Now.
What do you think about the crisis in Syria?
Grab ahold of that thought, and type it down below in the comments-- who cares about spellcheck or punctuation. If you're not ready for the front page, email me.
Let's finally have that dialogue with real emotion that inspires real change for real people.
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