Thugs win

July 5 is one of the most difficult days at the Monastery. Our neighbors celebrate their freedoms as Americans by blowing up literally thousands upon thousands of fireworks all night long.

Fireworks are, of course, illegal in Chicago. No matter; there is a fireman in the neighborhood who sells them! And this in the middle of one of the worst droughts in living memory. I am grateful that there were no major fires (we did have one two weeks ago that put out all of the electricity in most of the South Side).

I feel especially for the elderly, many of whom I know flee to the homes of their families who live outside of Bridgeport. We've gone away other years, too. The effect of the constant noise is to make our neighborhood feel like a war zone. If you watch outside, people act that way to some extent. Children are blowing up fireworks in the street outside the Church, with some of them even hitting the Church. There were young people roaming the streets well into the night. Obviously, there is little that can be done to quell an outburst like this. But one wonders how it got started. Not all neighborhoods in Chicago are like this.

I take it as one more indication of our unwillingness to hold each other to civilized standards of behavior. To register a complaint with the Alderman would be to court ridicule. But think about it, why do we find it appropriate to celebrate our freedom from tyranny by terrorizing the peaceful of our neighborhood?

More to come.