A place to gather my thoughts.
July 4th evening: I was sitting in my backyard. The weather was pleasant. There was a slight breeze wafting through the trees. The air smelled of summer … you know, the scent of meat cooking on the grill. 
Even though it wasn’t quite dark yet, there were the sounds of people lighting firecrackers, kids having fun, the sound of music drifting through the air, and laughter of both adults and kids having a nice, carefree day.
As soon as it became night, the fireworks began in earnest. The view from my backyard was less than spectacular, but the flares, bottle rockets, bursts, etc. were visible. Some of them even crested the tops of the trees. Mind you, these were consumer grade fireworks, which don’t go as high as those of professional grade. Anyway, I sat there and watched them stream through the air and permeate the air with the sulfurous and tangy smell of spent gunpowder. After a while, it became nearly overwhelming as I was downwind from most of the activity.
The previous day, I had told Tony, my son, that we would go to South Carolina, which is about 20 miles away, to get some fireworks. You can’t get any good ones here, nothing but sparklers. However, on the morning of the 4th, I decided to investigate and find out why that was. I found out that any firework that flies, spins, explodes, or moves under its own power is illegal to use in North Carolina; however, SC has no such laws, which is why there are numerous state line booths. People cross the line to get the good stuff.
I had to tell Tony that I was not going to go to SC to purchase fireworks to shoot here. He was disappointed, but got over it soon. We went to the store and bought some fireworks approved for use in NC. Boring! Next year, I think that we’ll get him and some friends, go to SC, buy a bunch of fireworks, shoot them off in SC, and return home. All legal.
After I told him that we weren’t going to go, I sat and explained that even though ‘everybody else is doing it’ it doesn’t make it legal, or for that matter, right. He understood and even shared a story with me that kind of warmed my heart and gave me confirmation that I was headed in the right direction:
He said that one of the ladies at school, who works in the lunch room, said that they could sign up for ‘free’ lunches this summer. He asked how. She said that all that we had to do was fill out the paper, lie about our income (“everybody does it and we don’t check or require proof”), and like that, we get ‘free’ lunch. He told me that he told her that there is no way that my dad would do that. No way!
That’s step one! He knows that I wouldn’t perform a dishonest act. Step 2 is for him to say: “No thanks. That’s dishonest. I don’t want to participate.”.
Later in the evening, our neighbor was talking to me and asked why I didn’t go to SC and get the fireworks. I told him about the law and he said: “Man! They don’t even enforce that law. Next year, you should do it up right!”. I told him that as long as the law was still a law, that I would follow it.
Over the years, we’ve had numerous chances to cheat. Some of the competitive sports teams tend to make a living at this providing fake birth certificates, players who are older and playing under a younger person’s name, etc. Lying just seems to be no big deal anymore, just as long as it benefits you and you can ‘get over’ on the system.
I would have loved to have some cool fireworks, but the eyes of my son were upon me. How could I have selectively ignored one law and then tell him, later, that the rules apply to everyone. I couldn’t.
I’d be very much interested to hear your story or your take on this, even if it is a very long comment! I like to read!!!
About the picture: It’s only relationship to the post is that I was looking at it while thinking about what to say. This is a vase with some flowers that I bought for my wife. The light was so beautiful as well as the curvature of the glass that I had to grab my 80-200 f/2.8 and shoot with it for a while. This was the best of the shots that I got.
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