Mother Bear on the 4th of July (by Nina)
Nina’s story below points out the importance of safety and consideration when using fireworks. For 4th of July strategies when dealing with challenging children, go to Four Hard Things About the Fourth at About.com: Parenting Special Needs.
It was a nice July evening – warm but not too hot. We had enjoyed the mayhem of downtown and our community's unique 4th of July parade. We had our share of rotary club floats and emergency vehicles, but we also had the stupendous Eagledale lawnmower brigade, dance routine and all, and the march of the briefcases.
My husband, four-year-old daughter, and I were now strolling toward the shore in another part of the island, relaxing far from the crowds, enjoying our time together. I was happily pregnant with our youngest. All of a sudden, a young man, who seemed to be embracing the gleeful lunacy of the 4th of July, lobs a small firecracker – from atop a truck bed – hooting and shouting, down the street and directly through my little one's short, little girl legs.
I was frightened, shocked, amazed, horrified. But the feeling that I instinctively indulged was my anger. No thinking for this mom. My impulse control was certainly not in fine form as I went over to the truck, shook my finger at him and said, "If you throw another thing near my child, I will beat the holy ---- out of you." It looked at me, 5' 2" tall and pregnant, with his mouth agape and said, "Ok, lady! Ok!" Like the challenging child with poor impulse control, my reaction seemed perfectly natural to me, despite what it may have looked like to others.
In these times when weapons are available for a dime or a dollar, the finger pointing, yelling, and threatening maybe wasn't such a good idea. In retrospect, something calmer would have been prudent. The rational extension of the eternal olive branch of peace: " We'd all be very appreciative if you would stop doing that. Thank you."
I ask you, on the 4th of July, with explosives ripping the air and on the ground, what mother bear stops to pick an olive branch? Not in these woods! Mother bears live in millions of dens with their challenging children, easy children, disabled children. Our ferocity, thank goodness, endures.
