We came tantalisingly close to banning Guy Fawkes this year.
The craziness this year is a good argument for why national government should do the right thing next year.
Government can actually start by banning the sale of fireworks completely, which would also mean that it can no longer be imported.
I don’t think the babbie shops are ever going to stop selling klappertjies.
But they might, if it is illegal and people like me piemp them, which I will gladly do.
For a society so traumatised by gun fights and random shootings, it still surprises me how gleefully we embrace firecrackers, which sound almost exactly the same.
The crackers are one thing, but the so-called smearing is another evil altogether.
Seeing gangs of teens running around intimidating and harassing adults in the streets, swearing at them, beating them up and smearing them with paint truly is a sad sight.
And that’s not to mention the vehicles that were pelted with bricks and paint.
Briefly, I saw scenes of anarchy.
But what sticks with me, is the look in the one boy’s eyes as he ran towards a car, a complete and total detached lack of empathy.
It was as if he was deriving pleasure from watching the fear on the faces of his victims.
That, to me, is the place that we are heading towards as a society if we don’t act against things like Guy Fawkes ‘celebrations’.
It has no sense and encourages anti-social behaviour.
While I am against many foreign holidays and celebrations, there is one I happily embrace and would encourage others to.
On the 28th of this month, Americans will be celebrating Thanksgiving, which to me is the kind of holiday we South Africans need and deserve.
But also, with time, it will give us better results in our kids, compared to Guy Fawkes, which gives nothing but trauma.