I just saw a picture that my nephew Jay posted on Facebook and he made the comment “Don’t run with that pencil, or stick in your hand.  But I will hand you a 12 inch spike with a welding tip on the end and say HAVE FUN”!

The picture he posted was of 3 little children, the oldest being maybe eight, each with a “sparkler” spritzing away.

Over my many years I have seen so many children, and adults, burned by those nasty little wire creations and for the life of me I can not understand why they are not banned from production.

As children we would light them and throw them up in the air and then run over to where they lay and pick them back up and toss them again.  How many times did I pick one up by the blackened hot end because it was dark outside and all I could see was the sparkling spitting part on the wire?  Once!  And then I quite playing with those stupid things forever.

How many lighted and sparkling little devils landed on unsuspecting people and burned them?  LOTS!  I even saw a fist fight between two fathers because of that very thing.

Sitting at the park waiting for the fireworks display the evening of the 4th of July.  Observing all the people and everyone having a really good time.  Lots and lots of parents lighting up sparklers and handing them to the children.  The children chasing each other with those hot babies and when they did touch the other kid, OUCH ! a burn was had!  And bad burns at that.  And then there are the ones not wearing their shoes, because it was such nice cool grass they were playing on.  One step on a recently extinguished sparkler and there is a nasty burned foot.

When it came to clean up time the lawn was loaded with those little #20 wires all over the place.

Yes, I would certainly like to see them banned.  But until parents decide for themselves what is good for their children we will continue to see them sold in supermarkets, novelty stores and those wonderful parking lot tents.  OOOOO, here is one that is 4 feet long!  That is the one I want.

So much for my rant.  I’ll get off my soap box now.

Bears Butt

July 5, 2012