Fire

I was thinking the other day about all the crap I’ve burned over the past decade and effect since Governor Patterson and DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis implemented the state’s burn ban by executive fiat.  Kept a lot of trash out of the landfill, started some good rip roaring camp fires up in the wilderness using discards that almost entirely burned on up. Of course, sometimes it does stink no matter how hot the fire is – depending on what you burn.

I still like burning trash and debris, like any good ol’ country boy does. Even with the burn ban, even if burn barrels have come and gone from many a farm and homestead, the old burn pile with the old mattress,  wood scraps, other readily burnable debris can be still found in many a backyard. I used to think it was deviant or somehow evil to be skirting around the law, but it’s really not. It’s just the unfortunate governing structure we live in New York.

As somebody who smokes pot at least in the wilderness, which is now legal but wasn’t until recently, it makes me think more about what is right and wrong. The law banning marijuana is unjust and just dumb in my mind. I am not arguing that smoking pot can cause you to make bad decisions, be a dangerous motorist, cause lung cancer and other sickness over time, or just put everything in a haze. But it’s also pretty harmless, not unlike burning debris out in the country.