We suffer through more sleepless nights…all throughout the summer, especially around the dreaded day, the Fourth of July.  Something akin to the inescapable, unnecessary sounds and sensation of war, cannons and gun shots boom and shake our house for hours every night and without warning or an end.  Could it even be so, in this uncertain time?  This simulation of a bombing needs to be banned.  Anyone who has survived any kind of war needs calm healing, not more sense experiences of threats and danger.  Fireworks are highly insensitive and painful on many fronts.

There are more than ten thousand injuries caused by fireworks each year in the US.  Some people even die. Such was the case at last night’s firework show in Michigan.  Property damage occurs as well.  Increased painful hearing issues, migraines, buzzing nerves, PTSD, and no sleep (which causes more illnesses) are our common effects from fireworks, and that is from inside our home with the windows closed. Babies and children are crying in their beds, and their routines are disturbed instantly and for the long-term.  Pollution negatively shapes a baby’s entire lifetime. Sleep-deprived parents, with very early work times, are endlessly working more over time to calm the alarmed little ones while writing emails to town to ban fireworks.  The town never answers us.  They think it is their American right to pollute everyone whenever and however they like, no matter the effects.  Spin-off sound/vibration pollution from random neighbours goes on until early morning with no signs of stopping, despite the curfew.  This, as well as the horrible local gun shots, sound off all year.  Why is this allowed?  Why was this adopted?  Who can change it?  Who will?  When?  We needed it to never happen.  Loud, intense sounds and vibration trigger PTSD, deepen a sense of unsafe conditions, cause illness, prolong insomnia, and prevent healing.  As a young child, I was put on a river boat at night and had to endure being right under the fireworks for a long period of time.  They thought it was a luxury, but it was abuse.  This annual crippling nightmare caused permanent hearing conditions and chronic illness.  All of this is preventable pollution.  Stop the suffering.  Stop endangering whole cities.  Repay our sleep deficit.

To truly celebrate freedom means giving everyone the freedom of quiet peace to sleep and to do as they need, without harming others.  This annual toxic terror needs to stop.  It allows people who already behave disrespectfully to feel free to worsen and cause more havoc.  Give us freedom from pollution instead.  End war and remove symbols of glorifying war.  Free us from your violent mistakes.  Fireworks are also a terrible fire and safety risk, especially during these hot months when wildfires rage and pollute everywhere.  Air pollution is already at a dangerous high.  We don’t need more smoke.

Prevent illness and pain.  Fireworks are cruel to highly sensitive people, all people (whether they are aware or not), and anyone with hyperacusis, migraines, autism, empathic senses, synesthesia, any illness, sleep issues, and hearing or nervous system issues.  Everyone deserves quiet for sleep and personal sense of safety.

STOP!  Just flat out STOP.  Stop assuming people love fireworks.  We don’t.  Pollution is a hate crime against sensitive people, all people, and the Earth.  Positive change is needed.  There are already too many layers of pollution that need to be dismantled and discontinued.  Fireworks need to be extinct.  If you don’t think fireworks are loud, you may be deaf as many people unknowingly are.  The vibration does affect you negatively whether you notice or not.  The make and use of fireworks was never a good idea, and they are not even American.  Research how to safely dispose of fireworks as they are toxic and can cause toxic run off pollution for land/water.  Be considerate and respectful.  Let everyone sleep and heal.

Alternatives to Celebrating Holidays with Fireworks :  Listen to loud heavy metal with headphones for hours-make popcorn-and watch your screen saver explode in spirals (have fun healing that blinding headache, no don’t do that)….or….help someone who needs basic things.  Which one will fill you with a sense of love?  Also, a simple thank you to a person who has worked to do something positive for your country would be a good small way to appreciate how they made a big difference.  Having a quiet day of silence is also a wonderful practice to celebrate holidays.  Meditate peace.  More joy and excitement can come from meditating and resting than from overwhelming the senses with senseless blasts of fire in the air.  Let the birds rest.  Let yourself heal.

I make awareness in my books for replacing toxic traditions with healthy positive ideas.  Sage’s July calendar book page is mostly about this post.  Leona’s town has a lot of seasonal fun, but only in healthy ways.  What else could we enjoy during July?  So many summery things….  What can you think of?  There are endless imaginative ways to spend your holidays without harming others.

Give Peace Today. Make amends for harming the world.  Redesign your calendar to help, not harm.  Wake up to peace, because we’ve been awake for eons…

Wishing for Rain.  Love, Amor Milagre

Update:  After years of messaging various towns in Maine about the damages of continued pollution here, we have finally received a response.  No apologies or sign of humanity.  It was an automated response directing us to a page that we had already read.  It briefly shows the town rules and says a town vote would be needed to ban fireworks.  We have written back to them, and all levels of government, about the negative effects of fireworks and have requested a ban.  We’ve also pointed out that the voters would need to be educated on the facts.  As is it now, the vote would not be accurate as the voters are uneducated on this topic and are, like many people, de-sensitized and/or deaf from pollution.  This kind of broken useless loop system, designed to deter anyone in need of change, is in denial and only provides a dead end.

Governments need to wake up to reality before it’s too late for everyone and more large scale damage ensues.  Why isn’t the suffering of an individual enough to stop pollution?  It is a warning that can save others from suffering, too.  Look at reality.  All of the little choices effect the entire world.  It has been happening since the beginning of time.  The damage to us is terrible enough, but they won’t listen.  They hide from responsibility and no matter the issue, they refuse to change.  They have stolen the energy we would need to fight this and many other issues, and that is their plan.  We don’t want to fight anything.  We want to live quietly.  I don’t understand why humans make life as horrific as possible.  After surviving so much, where can one rest?  Where?  We asked the town to change the rules so we’re not being polluted because it’s their job to protect the people in the town.  We already have jobs.  We’re not asking for anything new.  Just stop.  Don’t add more.  Subtract.  Stop doing negative things.  Stop.

Maine is a state that I moved to hoping for peace and quiet, but instead I have had the most shocking danger and illness of my life due to the toxic, dangerous, sexist, stubborn old rules of the people who live here.  And…that is saying something as I have survived many impossibles before coming here.  They don’t care, and certainly not about women.  Now, we are stuck…again.  Does anyone other than us care…anywhere?  What the townspeople, who are our disrespectful pollutive neighbours, don’t grasp is that we haven’t slept due to their pollution.  They don’t even realize the damage it has done to themselves either, such as hearing loss.  We haven’t been able to do our regular routines as we need to, let alone rally an effective peaceful protest that could sway this town’s way of thinking to care about other people.  I send the town information, like this, but we are sick at home and cannot go perform speeches at town meetings.  We support our town by paying taxes, following the rules, buying things, and starting positive community programs for free.  Why can’t they support us by respecting our safety and health boundaries?  Why are fireworks, leaf blowers, gas-powered machines, guns, motorcycles and trucks, chainsaws, and many other pollutive practices not considered a public nuisance that can be reported and fined?  If someone broke into your home and banged pans together over you while you tried to sleep, that would be considered a viable issue.  This is the same, if not much more invasive and damaging.  To have to explain to children that they have no control over pollution and that we have to invent endless creative ways to get by is not right.  The fact that these are the laws of humans is revolting and disparaging.  This contradicts what we teach.  So…we write letters and emails.  This separates us from the town.  We moved here because it seemed like a good family community.  Nope.  Well, at least we have our beloved Nature.  No again.  Not allowed to be in it or enjoy it.  Too much constant pollution.  The humans have devastated our world.  Change it now.  It can be good.  We need nature to heal ourselves from the damage of pollution.  Preserve nature and all in, around, through, and under it.

America wants fighting.  They make you have to fight for your life every day and at every stage.  It is disgusting and damaging, especially when you need dire help.  We are just surviving every day’s endless and layered pollution caused by the town and it’s mismanagement of how people are allowed to behave.  They have taken the beautiful gift of nature and ruined it to the point that sitting in your own home is too painful to bear.  We planted flowers everywhere and cannot sit with them.  It’s too polluted.  Town outtings are rare, brief, and damaging due to pollution that prompts us to have to retreat home.  This is one of the least polluted places.  Think about that.  This pollution occurs every day of the year.  We’ve had to move many times because of this unnecessary pollution to our extreme detriment.  Where can we go?  It has cost us in every way.

*My message to you is:  What you choose to do affects everyone.  Are you helping or harming?  At the very least, be neutral.  No more fighting.  Listen and help everyone to have what they need.  Respect all kinds of people’s needs.  They may be different to yours, but they are equally important.  We need options and the freedom to make our own choices.  Stop forcing pollution into our homes, surrounding us everywhere, and making us ill for the short and long term.  If you think that you’re not affected by pollution, then you are simply in denial and are not aware of the effects.  It is not that you are not sensitive enough to feel it.  You need to wake up to reality and make changes for the better.  Our outer and inner ecosystems need repairing. Prevention, preservation, life cycle redesign, and healing are vitally important for our future.

Now, after another night of fireworks, baby cries, and no sleep, I am even more ill.  Getting everyone back to sleep will take months.  PTSD is quite difficult to counter.  I will leave you to examine the world’s continuation of negative choices and how you can make instant positive changes to improve daily systems and stop dangerous traditions for every neighbourhood and for all people.  We have noticed that just this week a few US towns have banned fireworks for this year due to the threat of wildfires, which is good, but can they be permanently banned everywhere based on all of their negative effects?

What you do matters to everyone around you.  Stop smoking.  Stop sexual violence.  Stop abuse.  Stop fighting, killing, and damaging.  Stop.  Learn how to deal with your mental and physical health in positive, neutral, and peaceful ways.  You can do this.  The world can easily be a safe, wonderful, natural place for everyone…if you can realize it in your choices.