Day 4: Public Service Announcement

For weeks now, they've been slowly popping up all over my town and the state at large. The white vinyl tents that flap noisily in the hot, dry air look innocent and even celebratory. But for anyone living in the oven that is New Mexico, those tents are much more ominous than they initially appear. And every year, seeing them pop up is synonymous with a nervous pit in my stomach, as visions of wildfires run through in my head.

I can't help it. Maybe it's because  I live in New Mexico, which tends to feel more like the surface of the sun than the Land of Enchantment any given summer's day and I've been trained to avoid anything that could potentially result in a raging fire. Or maybe it's the recent tragic loss of 19 firefighters in Arizona that makes me wonder if seeing sparkly fire in the sky this year is really worth potentially creating a giant wildfire and causing really brave people to lose their lives as a result. As someone who is too scared to even light a match, I have nothing but admiration for firefighters for doing a job that I would be way, way too chicken to ever do. So let's cut them a break and allow them a holiday where they don't have to worry about potentially losing their lives. Because come on. Take a look outside. It looks like a giant Triscuit cracker out there. Use your brain.

And while I'm up here on my soapbox, can I also suggest that we stop shooting guns into the air on the 4th of July? I have never, for the life of me, understood why people do that. It seems pretty pointless to me. And then I read this article today which broke my heart and made me think, more than ever, that it just isn't worth it.

I wish everyone out there a happy 4th of July, but let's not celebrate our independence from Britain by lighting our state on fire, accidentally shooting someone, or blowing off a finger because you could have sworn that cherry bomb was further away. Instead, let's all just eat too much and float lazily in swimming pools, coated in SPF 900 as we leave the fireworks and subsequent noise to the professionals.

The way our forefather's intended.