Community Collaboration: Rethinking the Joy of Fireworks

The Leaders proclaimed to the Citizens: Our community is suffering!

The Citizens replied: But we adore fireworks! They’re delightful. What would a celebration signify without the explosive spectacle lighting up the night?

The Leaders maintained: Too many individuals are being harmed, and in previous years, homes have caught fire. People have lost fingers and limbs.

No need for concern, we have it handled, the Citizens answered. We will ensure everyone’s safety.

Moreover, we’ve acquired permits.

Not for unlawful aerials sneaking into the Land, the apprehensive Leaders countered.

The Citizens, unshaken, declared: We adore aerials! Have you witnessed how stunning they are? We must welcome the new year with a bang. It’s our tradition.

The Merchants and Vendors remained silent. They cherished the substantial profits. Why would they wish to cease making fivefold returns on their investment?

Thus, the Citizens convened around the New Year’s feast: auspicious ahi and mochi, abundant sushi, teriyaki beef, mac salad — all accompanied by a lethal dose of fireworks.

Because this time People perished — Real People: sisters and family members, with numerous adults and keiki so severely burned that they are battling for their lives. A Leader commandeered military transport to an Arizona burn facility due to the Land lacking sufficient treatment centers.

In a TV interview, the Citizens defensively stated: We merely sought to enjoy ourselves!

Fun is witnessing your son graduate from college, your daughter bringing your first grandchild into the world. Fun is landing your dream job. Fun is traveling to Disneyland. Fun is your doctor giving you a clean bill of health after a cancer diagnosis. Fun is achieving a national volleyball championship.

The departed and their families have been deprived of this joy.

What transpired at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2025, was heartbreaking, certainly not enjoyable.

Meanwhile, as is common for a generous Land, Citizens contributed funds for medical assistance and family necessities. The Citizens responded with empathy, this being the Land of Aloha and Ohana, after all.

The pressure mounts on Leaders to restrict fireworks. They reference the detailed Reports outlining all the hurdles. The People’s House, the Legislature, suggests enacting and enforcing laws: ban fireworks, enhance monitoring at the ports, implement fines and escalate enforcement.

Laws undoubtedly influence People’s conduct. Recall how People faced great loss before altering their perspective on incarceration for drunk driving and vehicular fatalities? Remember how the civil rights struggle transformed voting and voter registration? Remember how smoke-free eateries and airplane travels are now standard?

However, laws alone are insufficient. The mindset and hearts of the People must evolve.

Family by family, neighbor by neighbor, community by community — we all, Leaders and Citizens alike, must converse and share the pain. Around the kitchen table at home, in church, at work and in schools, we must discuss and reach a consensus:

Fireworks kill. They injure. They change lives eternally.

The individuals who died are not strangers. They are us, our community. Our compassionate local culture cannot sacrifice lives for mere “fun.”

As Hawaii residents, we are inspired in the new year to contemplate deeply the fireworks tragedy of January 1st and what it signifies to Live Aloha, Live Ohana.

Pau fireworks! It’s pono. It’s time to embrace Genuine Fun.

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Joyce Torrey works as a reading and writing tutor.

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