Hey,
everyone! I hope that you're having a fantastic Wednesday today.
Today
is July 4th, and for most countries in the world, it's
just a typical, average day. However, if you're American, I want to
wish every one of you reading this a Happy 4th of July!
I
decided to do a special 4th of July entry for the American
audience for a couple of reasons. One, did you know that more
Americans read this blog more than any other nationality?
Considering that I'm Canadian, I consider this to be a great thing!
(For
the record, the top 5 are United States, Canada, United Kingdom,
Australia, and India.)
So,
I wanted to offer some gratitude towards the Americans who have
supported me in my writing ventures by doing a special blog entry
dedicated to you. I've even done this blog in red and blue to make
it even more special (I would have added white as well, but it's hard
to see on yellow.)
But
secondly, I wanted to choose a topic that seemed to fit with the
American holiday. After all, when you ask an American what the 4th
of July means to them, I imagine that most of them will have the same
answer.
Freedom.
So,
I thought that I would use this opportunity to help our American
readership celebrate America's 236th birthday by choosing
a subject that is not only represents the 4th of July, but
represents freedom as well.
Confused
yet? Don't worry. It'll all become clear soon enough.
In
the meantime, I thought that I would post an appropriate song that
befits the day. Have a look at this.
ARTIST:
Katy
Perry
SONG:
Firework
ALBUM:
Teenage
Dream
DATE
RELEASED: October
16, 2010
PEAK
POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1
for 4 weeks
Katy
Perry's “Firework” was the third single from her highly
successful “Teenage Dream” album. It was also her third of five
consecutive #1 hits from the same album. It also happens to be my
favourite song of hers that she has ever done. The song itself is
catchy, and it's got a great beat.
The
video, however, is a masterpiece, and it certainly illustrates the
topic that I want to discuss.
Today's
blog subject is about the two F's associated with the 4th
of July. Fireworks and Freedom.
As
most of you know, fireworks are quite symbolic with the 4th
of July. They rank right up there with stars, stripes, and barbecued
hamburgers. Certainly, fireworks are a huge deal up here in Canada
as well, especially on holidays like Canada Day which was just three
days ago.
I
can remember as a child going to the waterfront every July 1st.
At the time, we had a summer festival that always ended with a
humongous fireworks display. Watching the bursts of light streaking
across the sky in shades of red, blue, white, green, gold, and purple
always left me with such a high. Okay, so I had to watch the
fireworks displays with my fingers lodged in my ears because the loud
pops and bangs were a little too loud, but still, the visual
stimulation was fantastic.
I
imagine that for Americans today, they get those same feelings as
they watch the annual fireworks display light up the sky.
But
do you know how fireworks came to be invented? Well, nobody really
knows when the first instance of fireworks being used came to be, but
it's estimated that the practice of lighting fireworks first began
around the 10th
century, in the country of China. The Chinese reportedly designed
several varieties of fireworks using different effects and colours.
During the Song Dynasty, it wasn't uncommon to see the people of
China buying fireworks from market vendors, and as early as 1110,
large fireworks displays were set off. It would take about another
hundred years before the fireworks would be launched into the air (a
record dating back to the year 1264 states that a rocket-propelled
firework went off near the Emperess Dowager Gong Sheng, which
startled her during a feast held in her honour).
By
the mid-17th
century, Chinese fireworks were gained popularity with the
development of “chinoiserie”, and in 1758, Jesuit missionary
Pierre Nicolas le Cheron d'Incarville took notice. He was living in
Beijing at the time, and he was so impressed by the technology behind
Chinese fireworks that he ended up writing a piece on the methods and
composition behind making them. He sent it into the Paris Academy of
Sciences which revealed and published the account five years later.
The writings were translated in 1765, which added fuel to the fire,
so to speak. Within a matter of time, fireworks became immensely
popular.
So,
now you know how fireworks were invented and became popular. But,
what does the American Independence Day have to do with them?
Well,
apparently some of America's earliest settlers used fireworks and
black ash to celebrate important occasions long before the American
Revolutionary War. Most of you know that the Declaration of
Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, and the first celebration of
America's Independence day was held a year later in 1777. Fireworks
were a part of that celebration, as well as in 1789, with the
inauguration of George Washington.
So,
it's easy to see why so many people see fireworks as being a symbol
of freedom. After all, they were lit on the very day that the United
States of America became an independent nation, free from the rule of
other countries. I'm not American, but it's a beautiful
feeling...one that I'm sure the residents of my country felt back in
1867.
TRIVIA:
Do you want to know the place that reportedly uses the most
fireworks? Apparently, it's the Walt Disney Company! Given the
elaborate fireworks displays held at Anaheim's Disneyland and
Orlando's Walt Disney World, it's easy to see why.
So,
that's your history lesson on fireworks for today.
Now,
you're probably wondering why I posted the Katy Perry video up above.
The reason why I did was because it's the perfect example of
illustrating the concept of freedom.
That
is, the freedom of being yourself.
The
whole concept of the video is coming to terms with who you are,
accepting your insecurities, and facing your fears in order to become
the person you know you can be. In the course of the video, you see
several unfortunate situations. You see two children caught in a
domestic dispute between their parents. There's a girl who is
battling cancer and has lost all of her hair. You have a teenage boy
at a party who seems to be feeling alone. There's a pool party where
a girl is encouraging someone else to strip down and jump in, but
she's self-conscious about how she looks. And there's a boy who is
being cornered by a group of thugs, and things look grim.
But
somehow, the people in the video seem to find who they are, and as a
result, they let their colours burst in the form of shiny, sparkly
fireworks. And, once that happens, things start to get better. The
boy finds the courage to tell his fighting parents to knock it off.
The girl with cancer finds the strength to face the world. The
self-conscious girl dives right into new self-confidence. The
teenage boy at the club finds true love. Even the boy in the
alleyway manages to escape injury through the power of magic. At the
end, there's a huge celebration filled with thousands of
newly-inspired teenagers who have now found a sense of inner freedom
by breaking free of the negativity and self-consciousness that they
carried with them for so long.
In
that sense, the video does a great job linking big, bold, and bright
fireworks in the sky to finding the freedom within yourself to be the
person that you want to be. Just as fireworks are linked to being a
symbol to a country's independence, I think that fireworks can also
be linked to a feeling of personal independence as well, at least,
that's the image that the Katy Perry video presents.
When
you stop and think of it in both of those senses, fireworks really do
represent the value of freedom. Not just in the United States, but
for all countries. Whether it's the freedom of being an independent
nation, or freedom from negative stereotypes holding you down...I
think that freedom should be celebrated, don't you?
I
think that's why I enjoy fireworks displays, even if the noise bugs
me. They illustrate something so beautiful and pure, and something
that lies dormant inside of us, just waiting to come out.
Happy
Independence Day, America.
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