AP

Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul said last week he was going to be somewhere else on the Fourth of July this year, someplace they didn’t celebrate with fireworks.

But before he goes, he’s going to remind children here that they shouldn’t play with dangerous explosives, after the accident which mangled his right hand and put his career in jeopardy last year.

According to Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News, Pierre-Paul is planning to do some type of public service announcements in the coming weeks to reminds children of exactly what can happen when fireworks are involved, and the tremendous stakes.

During his first interview after last year’s accident, he was asked what he’d tell children, and he replied: “As for fireworks, they’re very dangerous. You shouldn’t play with them.”

He’s done far more than speak in short bursts since then, donating time and money to burn victims, speaking to groups and making visits to see individual patients.

“I’m a role model,” he said last fall. “With what happened to me, a lot of kids were like ‘Dang, what’s he going to do now?’ When a role model tells you it’s going to be OK, it’s going to be OK. They look up to that.”

With a little luck, and an extension of his message, perhaps he’ll be able to convince more young people to not make the same mistakes he did.