“Can we ever change the way we celebrate the New Year in a way that will not result in deaths and ruined lives?”
IT HAS become customary for us that every January, we go about counting our human losses both in deaths and wounded because of the way we celebrate the coming of the New Year.
Regrettably, the casualties this year is 39 percent higher than last year’s and we are not yet done counting.
Why we continue this kind of revelry and not try to switch to a more wholesome celebration that will not destroy human lives is inexplicable.
Think of the thousands of people whose lives have been ruined because of firecrackers over the years.
For those whose wounds are not serious, the experience would certainly be a valuable and unforgettable lesson.
For those who have lost arms, fingers or other parts of their bodies, they will have to try their best to restart their lives as normally as they possibly can. But for those who died, they will now unfortunately simply be part of the statistics.
So far, four people have died this year due to firecrackers. One was a 44-year-old individual who tried to check why the firecracker he lighted did not explode.
Instead of keeping his distance, he tried to look into the container where he dropped the powerful firecracker and, just as he did, it exploded into his face eventually causing his death.
We sympathize with his family, but what can we really do except to say that he should have known better. Tragically, most of the victims are minors.
Regret or pagsisisi as the old saying goes always comes after what has happened and not before.
Yet, we continue with this madness. We cannot seem to stop.
Part of the reason is probably because firecrackers have become so ingrained in the way we Filipinos celebrate the New Year that government officials especially at the local level are reluctant to take a determined and comprehensive effort to change this culture of celebration.
They do not like to be the killjoy to the community or their families.
There were, however, some years when the government did try to strictly enforce the firecracker ban and the casualties during those years were lower.
Lately it started to creep up because people seem to be attracted with new and more powerful firecracker products like “good-bye Philippines” for instance.
In spite of police efforts to go after firecracker manufacturers that produce prohibited products, enticing and more powerful firecrackers which people want to try continue to be available thru online marketing making apprehension harder.
But can we ever change the way we celebrate the New Year in a way that will not result in deaths and ruined lives?
From what I have observed, it can be done but that will take a determined effort, the imagination to develop some alternative form of revelries the public can enjoy and the willingness of local government officials to spend for other forms of celebrations.
One is government supervised fireworks display where the public can go and watch.
This was done in Roxas Boulevard at one time and attracted a sizable number of people.
Unfortunately, this was discontinued probably because of costs and lack of other activities like a musical concert to complement the fireworks display.
A fireworks display takes only about 20-30 minutes at the most after which people will have to leave.
But people like to linger longer and a musical concert can take the space.
All these need planning and will certainly cost a lot of money but should be better than seeing most of the hospitals being placed on emergency footing to treat the victims of firecrackers.
We can also take a page at the way New Yorkers wait for their New Year count down which attracts people from round the world.
Surely our local governments can be as imaginative and think of something similar to New York so that our New Year revelry can be wholesome without anyone getting hurt and not have something resembling a battlefield.
It is painful watching those TV footages where young boys lose their fingers or entire arms.
Let’s hope that the 2026 celebrations will be wholesome with no one getting hurt.
