It’s a quarter to midnight on New Year’s Eve. The fireworks, starting after sundown, are now getting louder; some have an ominous whistle to them.
Reading the Inquirer on that very last day of 2014, three items jump off the pages:
1) The gruesome images of injuries caused by firecrackers (page 3);
2) The editorial, which mentions that “at least 140 people have already sustained firecracker injuries as of Monday” (page 8);
3) Pedro V. Refuerzo Jr.’s short but salient letter (page 10).
As with graphic warnings on cigarette packets, gruesome images seem to have some effect, but not to the diehards, who seem compelled to behave like zombies or typical addicts, until they run out of firecrackers, money or fingers.
The editorial ends with “Just. Don’t.” This is highly reminiscent of former US President Ronald Reagan’s approach to highly addictive drugs: “Just say no.” Naive and ineffective.
But Refuerzo’s letter seems to hit just the right note: If Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte could successfully ban fireworks in his city, he must have had the support of most of the people. This must mean that the majority of the people there are still in full possession of their senses and are not addicted to insane, ineffective irresponsible behavior and don’t see the point of wasting their hard-earned money on dangerous noisy fireworks to drive away evil spirits.
Cardinal John Henry Newman wrote that “a gentleman is one who does not inflict pain.” Setting off such horrific noise and toxic fumes constitutes a painful experience for man and beast alike and certainly does not make for much “fun.”
At 9 p.m., we watched the early children’s fireworks on the Telstra YouTube channel from Sydney. The display was professionally staged, set to music, and the fireworks just right, a delight to all, and a wonderful sight to behold. And the hospitals did not have to treat any walking wounded, only the usual drunks.
It’s time to stop kidding ourselves that we’re having “fun.” Mayor Duterte no longer puts up with this insanity in Davao City, and my hunch is that the people of Davao are having more fun now than they have ever had.
And should he go after the presidency, as Refuerzo suggests, he would probably “clinch it hands down.”
And we’d all have the last laugh!
—WALTER PAUL KOMARNICKI, langka958@gmail.com