We became arrogant.
And I completely agree with his point on fireworks.
It's a small thing, but it illustrates well how we take something sacred, or somethign that's deserving of reverence and respect and commercialize it to the point it becomes un-recognizable.
The 4th isn't about fireworks, just as Christmas isn't about presents, Easter isn't about eggs, thanksgiving isn't about turkeys and so on and so forth.
We commemorate something and then we come right back and convolute & confuse it till any importance it may have previously had is well hidden.