Fireworks

I always feel lucky to attend a major league baseball game. It has it all: tradition, drama, sport and sportsmanship. Even though it turned out badly for the Dodgers, I still enjoyed their last home game against the Padres. There were over 48,000 people in attendance. Hardly a vacant seat could be seen from the top deck to the farthest seat in the outfield. The smell of hotdogs, sound of kids and Dodger blue can’t be caught unless you are there.

If each person had brought another friend or loved one, and if we all could have squeezed into Dodger stadium to watch the game, our number would still not have equaled the number of humans we killed in Iraq. And for each person we killed, the destruction we caused will kill one of his or her children as well. We chose to kill them all. After the game there was a spectacular fireworks display to celebrate the end of the season. There is nothing more American than fireworks on a summer night.

JAMES E. HAWKES, Pacific Palisades