In light of disaster, fireworks seem excessive

Andrew Block Guest Writer

I just don't get fireworks. You light a bunch of sticks on fire. There's a big bang, some glittery sparks, and that's it. Oh yeah, and you have to pay money for them.

I really don't get fireworks at Vassar— especially this year. The post-Serenading display cost the Vassar Student Association (VSA) a total of $2,500. It may have cost others a lot more. That's three library ibooks for 15 minutes of oohs and awws. That's 25 calculators at Poughkeepsie High School for a quarter of an hour of pop-bang-fizz. That's 250 meals at a local foodbank for the sake of a fleeting thrill. And perhaps most poignantly, today, that's a whole lot of food, water, clothing, medical aid and other assistance for those struggling to overcome the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

While spending thousands of VSA dollars on fireworks may entertain, as well as build some students' affection for the College, it is obvious that such funds could be used for more pressing human needs right here in the United States. And while I understand that the fireworks funds have never been diverted toward service-oriented causes, the emergency in the Southeast should have served as an exception to the rule, one that the Seranading Committee and VSA should have taken into account, and on which they should have acted. I know fireworks can be a thrill—my own brothers stock up every summer—but blowing them up at such a great cost shows a casual yet blatent disregard for those who could have used the funds for their sustinance, basic hygene, and, in some cases, survival.
Rhetoric on campus indicates that we at least want to do otherwise. At Vassar's graduation last year, Tom Hanks offered some useful advice that could have proved useful in planning serenading 2006. It is advice that Vassar should take to heart in charting the year ahead. "The Power of Four," was his mantra—a pragmatic philosophy that deliberately changing just one-forth of any aspect of our daily activities can have a monumental impact in making the world a better place. Although this year's Serenading event blew it in terms of rethinking the importance of the quarter of an hour and $2,500 spent on fireworks, it is not too late for the Vassar community to apply Hanks' speech elsewhere—if not in terms of hurricane relief efforts, then on campus, in Poughkeepsie, and abroad. Doing so would not only redeem the time and money spent on the pomp and circumstance of our graduation ceremonies, it would also do very much to help those in need, and thus affirm Vassar's role as an institution of concerned, active citizens.