The Scoop: Kites are easier to burn than fly
If you’re yearning for a little good-hearted aggravation, you won’t want to miss the Standard’s seventh annual Kite Day tomorrow morning.
It’s a day when hundreds of children from around the county gather at Hickory Creek Elementary to watch in unison as their parents try – and fail – to fly kites.
The one aspect of the event I truly enjoy is Kite Day doesn’t discriminate. Children with 99 cent kites, all the way up to the kids with $40 kites, get the privilege of watching their parents fail. Again and again.
Through the years, I’ve come to measure my Kite Day success by how many direct hits with the ground my kite can absorb. I still remember the Kite Day, I think it was two years back, when my Elmo kite crashed dozens of times. Amazingly, the kite remained totally intact – at least until I stomped it, crumpled it, and threw it in the trash on my way out.
Aggravation is the common thread that brings us all closer together during Kite Day. No matter our social status, no matter our wealth, all Warren County residents can gather for two hours on a Saturday in April and struggle to get a piece of plastic in the air.
If you look at the broader picture, flying a kite is much like raising a child. You spend time getting them off the ground, sometimes for a decent length of time, but they will always come falling back. That is until one day it’s time to cut the string and the little kites we’ve nurtured for so many years are ready to take to the skies on their own and they soar off into the sunset.
Today, kites are mainly used for entertainment purposes. It’s something the whole family can do together and it will provide conversation for years to come:
Son: “Hey dad, remember when you tried to fly the kite and it kept crashing to the ground.”
Mother: “Yes Harold, you looked so cute when the kite string wrapped around your neck and started to cut off your air.”
Believe it or not, there was a time kites were extremely useful. Thanks to my trusty encyclopedia, I can tell you kites date back to the Chinese some 3,000 years ago. Back then, kites were made with bamboo and silk.
Rumor has it those kites didn’t fly well either, but the Chinese weren’t about to give up. Apparently inspired by a fortune cookie that said, “One day kite will actually fly,” the Chinese persisted until they got the thing to work.
Through the centuries kites have been used for religious ceremonies and for scientific experiments. I’m sure we’re all familiar with Ben Franklin and the story of how he boldly flew his kite in a thunderstorm.
Franklin proved that metal objects conduct electricity. That’s a fact golfers continue to prove today when they walk around fields with what amounts to lightning rods, or as they like to call them, golf clubs.
Kites have even been utilized in military maneuvers. Back in the old days before satellites could monitor troop movements globally, kites were used to lift soldiers off the ground so they could help determine the enemy’s plan of attack.
In honor of the Standard’s seventh Kite Day, and the great place in history kites have in this country, I’ve thought about adding a new twist to this year’s event. In the final minutes of Kite Day, I think we should gather together, join hands in a circle, and have the first-ever Kite Burn Day. And just to make sure it’s fun for the entire family, I’ll bring a bag a marshmallows for the kids to roast.
(James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)