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I don't have wartime induced PTSD, but various life experiences have led me hate the sound of artillery launches and the subsequent explosions and react viscerally to them. Not only my body hates explosions, but my mind and soul hate what they represent.

The "rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air" is an image of death and horror. The point of the national anthem is that the horror of rockets nonetheless gave light to something better: the flag. They are the OPPOSITE of what the flag represents in the anthem. Listen:

"And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."

And note: Those were the ENEMY rockets attacking Fort McHenry. The flags illumination by the rockets is intended to be IRONIC. The very instruments of death that attacked us, illuminated the flag and gave hope. The meaning comes when we understand the primary meaning of rockets. Without that conciousness we pretty much miss the whole point of the line. To make the rockets central to the celebration in an un-ironic way, as if they represent OUR power, is bad reading of poetry, if nothing else. Instead of understanding that (and who can expect the public to understand poetic irony in the national anthem) today on the Fourth of July we simply enjoy the bombs and rockets red glare... the light produced by the technology of death.

Sure, it's just pretty colors to most people, but lest we forget, the thud of artillery accompanies every colorful display. If you've seen death, heard the thud of artillery in conflict, or really focused on what war means (even as a civilian) then that is a sound you never want to hear again. These explosive displays are really a glorification of killing technology.

You might say that it DOES represent what this empire and nation stands for - a glorification of raw power. I'd prefer to hope that the explosions of the Fourth of July are a sad distortion of what this place and community could stand for.

I make every effort to be out of ear shot, and I never feel more alienated from America than on the Fourth.

An American commentator from 50 years ago, James Cabel, said "patriotism is the religion of hell." That's not a bad description of what I feel when watching people get all solemn and worshipful at a fireworks display. At those moments I find myself living in some kind of alternate world where no one gets the reality they are living in or the meaning of the symbols they participate in. (At least I prefer to be hopeful that they don't get it, and not consider the possibility that they do get it.) At no time is Cabel's comment more understandable than during the hellish quasi-religious rocket demonstrations that count as a celebration of America every July Fourth.

Perhaps you will think this too far out of the box to present to your listeners, but I'll bet that there is a significant group out there who have no real PTSD, but find the Fourth of July traumatic on a visceral and symbolic level anyway. I certainly sympathize with veterans who can't bear it. I think they know the reality of war. It is written in their bodies, and they are the sane ones... not the crowds who love the explosions.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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