My son Colin sent me this, with the remark, “kinda beautiful to watch it.” Well yeah, I think cynically, finally a good use for this latest fiendish product of human imagination.
So I started to watch it. And I did want to think, well, yeah, “kinda beautiful.” Except that I was immediately transported back to that stunning, awful Spring Equinox night in March, 2003, when they televised the initial Shock and Awe light show over and inside Bagdad.
My husband had died not even two months earlier, I was living in a brand new town, all alone, with no one to talk to about this horrible thing that the U.S. was doing in ginning up, under false pretenses, with full “embedded” journalist approval, yet another war, against yet another defenseless country, and meanwhile, televising it as if it were just another light show.
So yes, PTSD, for me; mild, but real. Which reminds me, I read the other day that some combat veterans have this reaction to July 4th fireworks displays.
Are we surprised?
Is there a way for humans to learn to enjoy fireworks without having to kill people and destroy the Earth?
And BTW: puppy Shadow will never get used to the popping and whistling noises, never, ever. Pressing his body close to mine in bed, head, up, ears alert, terrified. For hours. We don’t look forward to nighttime the rest of this weekend.
0 thoughts on “Filming Fireworks with a Drone — and PTSD”
When the kids were young we took them to “The Lake Tahoe Marina Lodge” next door to the fire station where the Fire Department managed the annual fireworks display off the “Common’s Park and Beach.” The launchers were maybe 200 feet from our balcony. What a year of fireworks excitement when the big aerial bomb(s) blew up on the ground as they were lauching it (them). We were all swept inside the bomb busts until they got the launch pad under control. No one was hurt. What excitement and dazzling experience for kids and parents. Laughs all around. All you could here from all the balconies was “Oh — Sheeez!” shortly followed by a big round of applause.
you know, i thought the same thing yesterday amid all of the fireworks. _what of the veterans of actual war_ _how similar this is_ . i wonder what they have to say about it – or feel about it (but perhaps that doesn’t get shared often?? hard to process i imagine).
i wore ear plugs the entire time, amazed at the war-like quality of our celebration; a nation founded on war, no? (and we thought of the drone filming too – my brother-in-law has a lower-end one from japan! – it crashed though before the night commenced.)
to say nothing about http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/are-fireworks-bad-for-the-environment
WOW! Thanks, Ted.
I remember the U.S. television coverage of the shock and awe of Bhagdad. I was sitting with a friend’s mother, who once lived in Bhagdad with her husband, while he worked for the U.S. Embassy. My friend’s mother wept, as she claimed there was a terrible mistake with the way the U.S. was invading the country. She wept, claiming that the people were beautiful, loving people. She wept at the t.v., saying something was terribly wrong. She continued to weep, crying that this is all wrong.