Parents, if you're going to let your kids play with fireworks...

…please, supervise them.

After dinner last night, my girlfriend was taking me home, and we took a road through a neighboorhood. All the sudden, a red flare shoots in front of her car, freaking the both of us out. After we calmed down we realized it was most likely just two kids “having fun” by playing potentially dangerous practical jokes. When I was younger (hell, I sound like a griping old person – I’m only 20!), I did have a great deal of fun playing with fire and fireworks. But I was always careful…for the most part. But never did I bring others unwillfully into my pyrotechnic experiments. (Well there was the one time a few years ago I accidently threw a blackcat at my sister’s car, but that was pure accident and it only caused a small black mark which was easily remedied with some spit and a little rubbing.) Who actually thinks it’s a good idea to shoot roman candles at moving cars, though? If the flare had actually made contact with her car, I know she would have stopped, and called the police, and I wouldn’t blame her. Furthermore, what if the flare had caused her to panic, and swerve the car out of the way of it, only to hit another car. Hell, what if they had shot it off at an unmarked police car? (Please note, I am only assuming that it was kids doing this, as it is decidedly juvenille behavior. It is quite possible this was two grown people who are completely lacking in common sense. I sincerly hope it was the former, though.)

I only got the lame ones, most of the time.

My parents wouldn’t buy me firecrackers for a long time. But when they finally did, the neighbor kid and I would each set up Army men in these elaborate formations and then take turns. Light a cracker, throw it at the opposing army, then the next person went. Whoever knocked down all of the opposition’s Army guys first won the “war.” This game violated the rule my parents set, which was never EVER light the firecracker in your hand. Set it down first, then light it. But it wasn’t as fun to throw it, then light it. Sometimes you couldn’t get the punk in there to light it anyway without knocking over Army guys with your hand. Even with the rule broken, it was safer than what the other neighbor kids did, which was basically wander around thinking of new, bigger, noisier, scarier things to make firecracker bombs with.

Huh. If somebody shot something at my car I’d assume they were terrorists and try to run them over. I guess I should stay away from the South.