Dear Editor,
I refer to the advent of firecrackers, squibs and other such explosive devices that surface during this the ending period of every year.
It is disturbing to see a group of youngsters lighting these explosive devices and hurling them helter skelter in an apparent euphoria of delight as the bombs burn down to their noisy end. What is more disturbing is the fact that these harmful, wasteful and extremely dangerous things are sold by adults, yes, grown people who apparently have no qualms about giving our youth the means of blowing themselves and their surroundings up.
But what is most disturbing of all is that these devices have been listed as “banned”, and yet they find their way on to the streets, sometimes being sold in full view of the public.
It is really too bad that during the holiday season, when people are preparing for the festivities that culminate the year in which they toiled so hard, the peace and serenity that is supposed to be the spirit of the holidays has to be shattered at frequent intervals by boom! kapow! bladow! and other such harsh attacks to people’s eardrums. Of course there is the small fact that most animals are simply stricken with terror when these things go off.
Then of course, in these times when violent crime is so widespread, it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between the sound some of these devices make when they go off and a gunshot.
I can also highlight the fact that people get their fingers, hands and toes blown off, are burnt or in other ways damaged by these devices.
Often it is the culprit who lights the device that ends up being bitten by his own folly.
I could also draw reference to the recent happening in Berbice where school children were engaged in a gang beating due to the hurling of such a device into a school compound. But I am sure by now that the readers of this letter get my point.
Yours faithfully,
A Hassan
