Baby, You’re a Firework
Explosive and Dangerous, Especially Around Alcohol
Trauma survivors and their families beg you to consider them before setting off your fireworks.
My ex secretly hated fireworks.
In the weeks leading up to the Fourth of July, we’d hear them sporadically throughout the neighborhood despite their illegality within city limits. Verbally, he defended them with all the patriotic chest-puffing you’d expect from a veteran-turned-cop, saying he’d fought for people’s right to shoot them off or whatever. He’d even accuse those who admitted to being sensitive to those jarring sounds, many of them veterans like himself, of being “soft”.
Then he, being the tough man that he was, would proceed to aggressively drink himself into oblivion. Whether this would lead to a tear-filled reenactment of a past war experience or a belligerent act of abuse against me depended on the night.
The prevalence of alcohol abuse among veterans is a well-documented concern. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that nearly one in ten veterans struggle with alcohol use disorder. The challenges veterans face during holidays or events involving fireworks can exacerbate their alcohol abuse tendencies.
