Fireworks?

[Lemonboy]

I don't know about the world....but in Sweden it is a tradition to shoot off fireworks on New Years eve.....I just wanted to take the time and say.....Donate your money to Southeast asia instead.......

Fireworks is an enjoyment were you get fun in a short time for a lot of money...and you never get your money's worth......


I never buy fireworks 'cause there is so many people who is dumb enough to do so...


So please donate your money instead!

I still haven't got ahold of my ex-girlfriend who is from Sri Lanka....She is down there visiting her father....

 

[U2democrat]

LB

 

[foray]

malaysia is not having fireworks this new year's to respect the tragedy.

foray

 

[verte76]

I don't do fireworks. But I'm not doing a party Saturday, instead I'll be giving another donation with the $$.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Very good idea Lemonboy

It doesn't seem right to celebrate when so many people have died, so many others are suffering

 

[indra]

Oh, Lemonboy, I hope your girlfriend and all her family are ok.

Your suggestion is a good one. The need for aid isn't going to go away in a few weeks, so I'm planning on donating more over the next several months, too.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Sydney are still having theirs, which I think is wrong. Their reasoning is that they have paid a fortune for them, they're paid for and in place, loads of tourists come to Sydney specificaly for this etc etc. That's weak.

My friends and I were going to an expensive party down on the harbour, but we've ditched that and are just going to one of their places, will have some drinks and food and have a relatively quiet one and donate the $200+ each we would have spent in the city.

Seriously couldn't party tonight.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

After watching this on the news for the past 6 days it's going to feel so wrong celebrating a new year when there are hundreds of thousands who aren't here to see it.

 

[babyman]

i've never threw any fireworks in the air in my whole life, rather to give off money for such useless tradition i give it to someone who needs it

 

[Kate1]

why are we dumb to buy em eh? just cos we want to have fun? why should we be depressed all the time thinking of others?

 

[Ava79]

why are we dumb to buy em eh? just cos we want to have fun? why should we be depressed all the time thinking of others?

I wouldn't say anyone is dumb just because of buying them, but at least this time the money could be spent on something far more important. I didn't see many fireworks last night because people in Finland were encouraged to give the money to the victims of the tsunamis in Asia. And to me it seemed a bit tasteless to party because I know people who have lost their loved ones and simply because this is the worst thing that has happened to us since the war. Over 200 Finns are still lost and probably dead in Asia. It puts things into perspective, doesn't it?

However I do not think that "we should be depressed all the time thinking of others". We have a right to enjoy our lives, it's so great to be alive! But at least I need a bit of time and distance before I can truly move on. It has broken my heart to see this disaster.

We can and we SHOULD have fun. And I wish everyone had a nice New Year and I hope no one would feel quilty if they were celebrating. It's a free world and we can do what we like. And hopefully we'll all have plenty of New Year eves ahead of us to have the time of our lives!!

Lemonboy, stay strong.

 

[U2Kitten]

The people I know who shot off fireworks already had them- they bought them last summer on vacation in a state where the bottle rockets were not illegal Around here the only time you can buy fireworks is Fourth of July, then you save some for New Year's Eve. So not every went out and wasted money now. But in the neighborhood I spend New Year's Eve in last night, there were more guns going off than fireworks. Everyone had to shoot into the air, even shotguns. And because everyone did it, nobody cared, nobody called the cops. I just hope no damage was done.

 

[U2democrat]

I woke up in the middle of the night because someone was shooting off bottle rockets. They went on....and on.....and on......and on......and on......for what seemed like hours. I thought of this thread.

 

[Lemonboy]

why are we dumb to buy em eh? just cos we want to have fun? why should we be depressed all the time thinking of others?

Yeah, of course. I'm sorry...you're right. Why should we think of others? I have to do what's best for ME first, right?

You want to have fun? well why don't you go out to the airport and tell it to the few people who have actually made it home. Or tell it to the people who have no home.....I didn't get any Champagne this year...So What? At least there's fresh clean water coming out off my faucet....

Nah, Close your eyes or change the channel....or better yet go out and party like there is no tomorrow,because who knows if there is?

 

[U2democrat]

 

[DrTeeth]

I don't see why the people who buy fireworks are getting all the flack, as if other people (incl. you Lemonboy) never spend money on 'useless" things. I didn't buy any fireworks yesterday but I had fun regardless and I don't plan on feeling guilty about it.

I donate to Care international and a variety of other charities on a monthly basis (even when it's not fashionable) and I don't see how me not having fun could ever help these people.

 

[sue4u2]

The people I know who shot off fireworks already had them- they bought them last summer on vacation in a state where the bottle rockets were not illegal Around here the only time you can buy fireworks is Fourth of July, then you save some for New Year's Eve. So not every went out and wasted money now. But in the neighborhood I spend New Year's Eve in last night, there were more guns going off than fireworks. Everyone had to shoot into the air, even shotguns. And because everyone did it, nobody cared, nobody called the cops. I just hope no damage was done.

I know what you mean U2Kitten. This happened in my city some years back and a little girl was killed when a bullet came back down and hit her. The commissioners changed the law where no fireworks could be shot off inside the city limits, and of course no one was suppose to be shooting guns anyway. Even though some people still do it, at least it doesn't sound like a war zone on July 4th and New Years Eve, any longer.

 

[Lemonboy]

I don't see why the people who buy fireworks are getting all the flack, as if other people (incl. you Lemonboy) never spend money on 'useless" things. I didn't buy any fireworks yesterday but I had fun regardless and I don't plan on feeling guilty about it.

I donate to Care international and a variety of other charities on a monthly basis (even when it's not fashionable) and I don't see how me not having fun could ever help these people.

And of course people can shoot fireworks if they want....It just seemed like a nice gesture...However it might not be taken the same way in countries that haven't been as affected as Sweden.....The thing that surprises me though is the fact that U2-fans are doing Egocentrical statements in a time of crisis...

But, actually I don't buy many useless things simply because I'm a student and I can't afford it!

It is great that you donate money...however I think it's disrespectful to talk about donating being fashionable after what has happened....

 

[Liesje]

Why don't we all cancel our Interference subscriptions and donate $12?

There are plenty of "useless" luxuries we could give up in order to help, so I don't think it's fair to say if someone wants to shoot off their fireworks, they're selfish for not returning them and donating that money. Everyone has different resources anyway. I didn't donate a cent after 9/11, but I donated what I DID have - time and the ability to work so I went to NY w/ 600 others and helped out the Red Cross instead.

Like DrTeeth's example, we can all contribute in our own ways.

 

[Lemonboy]

Why don't we all cancel our Interference subscriptions and donate $12?

There are plenty of "useless" luxuries we could give up in order to help, so I don't think it's fair to say if someone wants to shoot off their fireworks, they're selfish for not returning them and donating that money. Everyone has different resources anyway. I didn't donate a cent after 9/11, but I donated what I DID have - time and the ability to work so I went to NY w/ 600 others and helped out the Red Cross instead.

Like DrTeeth's example, we can all contribute in our own ways.

I agree with what you're saying here....however I cannot recall saying people should return their fireworks....


But as I said I live in the country who besides the asian countries has been hit the hardest.....so No-one feel like celebrating here.....

 

[Rono]

I don't see why the people who buy fireworks are getting all the flack, as if other people (incl. you Lemonboy) never spend money on 'useless" things. I didn't buy any fireworks yesterday but I had fun regardless and I don't plan on feeling guilty about it.

I donate to Care international and a variety of other charities on a monthly basis (even when it's not fashionable) and I don't see how me not having fun could ever help these people.

I agree with you dr teeth. I don`t buy useless fireworks but i would never tell other people not to buy also. It is a personal decision to do so or not.

...and i am hypocrite enough to say, i did enjoy the firework of my friends Almost $750

 

[Kate1]

whats the point of being depressed all the time lifes a bitch i agree but there is no point moaping about it all the time 1st its septerber 11th! But come on stopping fireworks is going too far!

 

[Liesje]

I agree with what you're saying here....however I cannot recall saying people should return their fireworks....

I know, what I meant was, pretty much everyone already had their fireworks purchased before the terrible disaster so the only way to donate the money instead like you are suggesting would be to return fireworks. It's a great idea to donate instead of buying fireworks, but everyone had theirs already. There are many places in the US where you can't buy fireworks so most people get them earlier in the year when they are on other trips to places that do sell them. I also know people who like to have lots of fireworks for 4th of July and they bought TONS of them when they were vacationing in Mexico and have enough to last for years and years.

 

[najeena]

Every year Seattle sets up fireworks on the Space Needle, a pretty show set to music. This year they started (I think it was first) with 'New Years Day', edited so that you heard 'I will be with you again' over and over. I thought it was a nice memorial gesture.

 

[U2Kitten]

Sue- what a terrible story, poor little kid I heard about 100 people were killed in Kuwait when the people there shot guns into the air to celebrate the US running Iraq out of their country. You never know where they're going to hit or come down. There had been some stray cats out eating in those peoples' garbage can ( I had give them scraps) and I worried about them too.

Lemonboy- I see your country had a lot of people missing down there I saw the one story about the baby whose uncle came to fetch him, did the parents ever turn up? I think I heard the grandma was alive? And little Karl Nillson, a cute little 4 year old with long blond hair, he was in our newspaper holding his name on a piece of paper in hopes someone would recognize him and come get him. He said he was in a hotel room with his brothers, the parents left, 'the room filled with water but I could still breathe, the floor disappeared and I came down in another town'
Poor kid, I hope his family shows up safe, or that some other family members in Sweden come down to take him home.

 

[verte76]

Lemonboy- I see your country had a lot of people missing down there I saw the one story about the baby whose uncle came to fetch him, did the parents ever turn up? I think I heard the grandma was alive? And little Karl Nillson, a cute little 4 year old with long blond hair, he was in our newspaper holding his name on a piece of paper in hopes someone would recognize him and come get him. He said he was in a hotel room with his brothers, the parents left, 'the room filled with water but I could still breathe, the floor disappeared and I came down in another town'
Poor kid, I hope his family shows up safe, or that some other family members in Sweden come down to take him home.

That was in our newspaper also. It's been in many U.S. newspapers, I think that picture just grabbed heartstrings all over. Poor kid.

 

[foray]

I am in New Zealand and spent my New Year's Eve, persuaded by friends, admiring the fireworks and dancing with the Hare Krishnas on the streets. I did not intend to ooh and ahh over fireworks.

But when they happened right above me, I was deeply moved. Most of the drunks there probably didn't have the tsunami victims in mind, but I did, and I thought of it as a tribute to the unfortunate. It reminded me of an Elizabeth Jennings poem, Remembering Fireworks, about a life so exquisite and that extinguishes as quickly and poignantly...

I read that on Penang Island, where the tsunami hit Malaysia, people were so respectful that there wasn't a peep on New Year's Eve 12 o'clock. I think that is amazing.

foray

 

[Angela Harlem]

foray have you been in contact with all your family and friends?
i'd email/pm you but you're harder to reach than royalty.

 

[foray]

Heya boondocks
Alhamdullilah, as the Muslims would say... no one I know in the 1st degree has been affected. Maybe a flood but not life-threatening.

foray

 

[Angela Harlem]

I'm glad mate. I hope there's not too much damage from the floods.