on 4th of July

I am definitely the scrooge of 4th of July. I've never been a into celebrating it. I spent many summers in Spain or out of country somewhere... so I am sure that's part of it.
As much as I love Detroit, I HATE certain holidays here because it literally sounds like a war zone for a few days... and when you're shooting off guns along with fireworks it's not exactly safe. The last 2 nights our neighbors shot off the loudest fireworks I've ever heard until after midnight... David and Scott are working crazy hours and haven't been able to sleep well. Poor guys!
So even though I am the scrooge of 4th of July, I think I am justified. Did you know in 2010 the US spent $952 million dollars on fireworks for 4th of July? So while 8 million people will die this year (or 20,000 yesterday) from poverty we are out spending almost a billion dollars on fireworks for what? A weekend? A day?
My other problem lies directly with my neighbors here in Detroit. I'd say that 95% of my friends that are from Detroit receive some type of public assistance- food stamps, housing allowance, monthly money, etc... I know my neighbors struggle to pay for field trips, uniforms, etc... So explain to me where they got the money to light up the street for 2 days???
There is a lot of nostalgia involved in how we celebrate 4th of July. I think we like to do what our families have always done. So my hope is to raise my children to enjoy the day with some delicious BBQ and lawn games, but definitely skip the fireworks....
I guess the more that I realize that we spent an exorbitant amount of money on unnecessary things (Super Bowl commercials, fireworks, war, etc...) I just don't want to be involved. One of our pastors gave an excellent sermon last week that discussed some of these very issues... as in when we sin and don't know and what we do when we become aware of it... You can listen to it here.
Anyway, don't go too hard on me if you disagree, I am exhausted and my emotions are high in pregnancy!!!

Just think about it. :)