Went to go see fireworks with my brother, his son, my sister, her boyfriend, and my family yesterday. Was a typical rural-America fest: corndogs, funnel cakes, patriotic music, and a lip-synch contest won by 4 teenage boys doing "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Every culture needs it's group rituals, and their choices shed an interesting light upon said culture. From communal fire-pits stories to temple ceremonies to gladiator combat to weekly Mass to high school football games, what a culture chooses as it's communal gathering-point says a great deal about it.
The modern day has fewer and fewer of these. Yes we still have our sports teams and our fireworks displays and our parades, but too much of this has been replaced by the modern campfire pit: the television and the computer. We seem to find it harder and harder to come together with others and actually interact, make eye contact, mingle. Even those we have draw our attention away from each other and towards something else, whether that be a guy hitting a ball with a stick or an exploding skyrocket.
Perhaps this void is being filled to some extent by social video gaming. The popularity of get-your-friends-together games such as the Nintendo Wii or Guitar Hero or Rock Band shows there is a need for such a thing. Even online gaming, whether deathmatching on Call of Duty or joining a guild in World of Warcraft, can be a social interaction of sorts.
Still, interaction through electronic devices cannot replace sitting around a campfire and actually talking. We need to do more of this, methinks.
CS
