Lighting up what’s wrong

Clearly, fireworks are becoming more menacing. Like all other crime in Trinidad, fireworks are out of control, and the problem symbolises a whole host of other problems in this country. Those of us who follow the law can clearly see that.

Let me list the problems here that Government should consider: 1. People who obtain and use fireworks are breaking the law, and this symbolises a larger problem, namely the feeling many people have that they can choose which laws to follow without any fear of prosecution.

2. Allowing people to buy and set off fireworks undermines respect for the entire police system.

If you can buy fireworks in the open and set off fireworks that sound like bombs, then that means no one respects the police or their neighbours for that matter.

3. Turning a blind eye to the fireworks problem makes the majority of people – the good people trying to contribute to this country -- question why they should bother to do the right thing. People begin to question ways in which they can get away with breaking the law.

4. Fireworks are dangerous. Why must I sit in my house and wonder if a Roman rocket is going to hit my house? I have managed to clear my immediate neighbourhood of fireworks. No one within my sight dare set off fireworks because I call the police. By the way, the police do come – even the Belmont police who have responded to very few of my emergencies in the past.

5. Why must good, law abiding people be prisoners in their homes on Old Year’s night because of fireworks? Those of us who have pets can’t leave our pets alone.

It is animal cruelty to the maximum, which is another problem in this country. We have no laws for animal cruelty, and we should.

Why must we be forced to drug our dogs so that they can survive Old Year’s night? What about our sense of peace and our sense of fun? We can’t stay home and enjoy a quiet Old Year’s night because fireworks make us feel like we’re in a war zone.

6. Elderly people and sick people suffer tremendously from fireworks’ noise. They are unsettling, scary and disruptive.

7. At best, fireworks can be considered noise pollution. My rights as a law-abiding citizen should protect me from noise pollution.

It should protect me from people breaking the law.

We law-abiding citizens don’t understand why so many people are blatantly allowed to break the law. We view the situation this way: How can we trust Government to protect us from crime if it can’t even manage illegal activity on the level of fireworks? If it can’t keep fireworks from coming into the country and getting into the hands of thoughtless people, how can it stop guns and drugs from getting in the wrong hands? Fireworks might seem like nothing but a nuisance to some people, but believe me, it symbolises what’s wrong in this country: people feel entitled to do whatever they want, and no one seems to want to stop the nonsense. If Government wants to be taken seriously, then it needs to take care of small, highly manageable problems like fireworks so we can trust Government to take care of the larger issues. In other words, Government, get your act together.