A Mixed Message on Fireworks

T.J. Huckleberry, MPA Executive Director

Aweek or two ago, I heard the most outrageous, preposterous, and downright un-American phrase ever uttered by the human tongue. It was so inflammatory that I am not sure I have personally recovered from it. It is so bad that I am worried that it is also not suitable for print (should children or hypersensitive adults read it out loud and cause a riot and mass fainting). But being a man who supports both free speech and open dialogue among my physician-members, I still feel I must share with you what I heard.

Are you ready???

Again, I feel I must warn you that this is some incendiary stuff…

O.K., ... here it is.

“Fireworks are useless.”

I know!!! I too have the visual of the Lincoln Memorial being zapped by a UFO, or a nose falling off Mount Rushmore… or Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps needing floaties!!

Fireworks!!!... USELESS??? I mean we are talking about Star Spangled Banner Waving, Bald Eagle Flying, Sherman Tank riding, Neil Diamond’s Comin’ to America Playing aerial explosives here!

I mean, so what if there is no practical purpose for them? So what, that they only last one second and then they are literally just smoke. So what, that every time one goes off my dachshund pees a little on our newest and most expensive rug. Fireworks are great!

And yeah, they are expensive. And dangerous… and illegal in most states. And sure, they are the chief reason for forest fires and their byproducts are literally just air pollutants. OK, so maybe that guy had a point. Maybe this summer we should be focusing on the sensible and not the superficial.

After all, that is what we have been doing at Berks County Medical Society.

To our leadership’s credit, we realized that our previous by-laws and structure needed a massive overhaul. This was done to address the current needs and values of our society and how we address important issues in the future. We made a commitment to focus on the values of our latest generation of physicians with the creation of the Early-Career, Residency, and Medical Student Chairs on our new Board of Directors. Furthermore, through our by-laws we expanded and outlined our ongoing education and scholarship programs to build on the success of our Pat Sharma Presidential Scholarship Program, Health Talk radio show, and this very magazine.

We hope with these changes we will be able to accommodate the hectic and demanding lives of our physicians while maintaining our commitment to furthering the art of medicine in Berks County. BCMS understands that life has in fact changed since COVID and we need to be the first to adjust to the times.

Again, we understand that our actions will draw more of a heavy yawn then an “ooooo” or “aaaahhhhh,” but what we have done will move this Society ahead for the next generations of members.

Sure, the actions we took this year were not all fireworks, however, they were practical and necessary. And I promise you the work we put in this winter will last a lot longer than those red, white, and blue blasting, Uncle Sam Saluting, Hot Dog Eating Contest Dominating, Bob Denver Rocky Mountain High Hummin’, Fourth of July Freedom Rockets we will all enjoy this summer.