July 4th is coming closer and closer, and now that you can buy fireworks pretty much EVERYWHERE, we seem to have forgotten common courtesy.

You wonder why there's a warning about hot coffee being hot? This is why. Common sense is on life support.

Dear Whoever You Are,

We need to have a little talk. For several nights now, I've been woken up by the sound of fireworks going off. Granted, I go to bed early, but I don't think I'm alone in believing that 10:30pm or later is well past the hour where pre-July 4th fireworks are even remotely acceptable.

I get that there's something exciting for you about fire and explosions and loud noise; there was for me too, when I was about 10. But I grew up. Part of growing up - which you may want consider- is realizing that your actions have an affect on the people around you.

It's not just that I get woken up, it's that your need to entertain yourself by making things go BOOM is also scaring the crap out of my two senior citizen dogs. Now, we have a plan for them on July 4th - because we don't enjoy seeing our beloved pets shake and cower in fear - but we can't do that every day in anticipation of your stupidity.

And that's just how we experience your idiotic behavior. There are folks that have jobs that require them to get up early, and can't fall back to sleep as easily as we do. There are parents struggling to get babies to sleep, toddlers in bed, and kids to get a good night's sleep. But you're convinced your few minutes of fun are more important.

On an even more serious note, there are veterans with PTSD in our neighborhoods, and your need to feel super cool by blowing up teeny tiny explosives can be legitimately triggering for them. Maybe if you had the experiences they've had, you'd think twice before lighting off another M-80 in your backyard.

So maybe think about saving your fireworks for July 4th, and if you can't manage that, why not contain it to daytime hours.

Sincerely,

Pretty much everyone.

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