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Floating Creative Ideas in the Colorado Sky
By Chris Dunmire, Amateur Wife Swap Watcher
I added the new Disney Pixar movie "Up" to my Netflix queue months ago and finally received an update last week that it "Releases 11/10/2009." Yay! I've been waiting with baited breath to see this movie after catching trailers of the old crotchety man blowing a raspberry to his neighbors as his house lifts off the ground and floats away courtesy of a bunch of helium-filled balloons.
So yes, this movie was the first thing that sprang to mind when my husband alerted me Thursday afternoon to the breaking news story playing out on CNN about the "balloon boy." I laughed... at first.
"But he might be in a lot of danger!" my husband exclaimed. "He could fall out!"
I looked over at the TV screen and my mood instantly changed. And for the next two hours I was transfixed on the aluminum foil-layered weather balloon story and the fate of the "un-named boy" now infamously known as Falcon Heene.
Yes I, along with millions of others, watched the balloon float live on TV for over an hour. I dared not even take a bathroom break for the fate of this 6-year-old was my only concern and I couldn't miss a moment. Then the flying saucer balloon got lower... and lower... and my adrenaline rose as the newscaster implored viewers to "say their prayers now" for the little boy and "we're on a time delay just in case..." as the balloon descended gently to the ground and that man ran through the wheat field to grab the tether. I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for the rescue to unfold. For the boy to emerge shaken, yet safe and sound.
 No boy.
"He may have been in a compartment attached to the balloon that fell off in flight." A picture of a circled dark object hanging below the silver saucer populated the screen. "A police officer may have seen something fall... A search and rescue is being mobilized."
Thoughts of a hurt, or worse, 6-year-old fallen from the sky filled my mind. My heart ached for the parents. I felt dread for the missing boy and guilt from my earlier laughter. Minutes later, more breaking news: "Falcon is okay. He's been hiding in an attic." HUGE sigh of relief.
Then talk of a hoax began to buzz... and louder after talk show interviews and vomited pizza. You know the rest. As I type, filed charges are on the horizon and lawyers and experts are paneling the walls of the Larry King studio.
So while the pundits were punditing, I unwound from the over-inflated drama and processed the hours of punk'd TV that yoinked my Thursday afternoon away. A baloney of a balloon story filled my head and helium-filled voices implored coloring therapy in co-creative collaboration of Nit Wits history and TV reality-hysterics. The result? I give you Nit Wits #50, before #49, simply titled "Ballooney" with a free coloring page you can print to commemorate this made-for-TV drama. Now I'm off to make some Jiffy Pop popcorn.
I'm all for a good gag, but not the kind that cost others substantial time and resources and emotional distress. But I know, as history shows, hoaxes of all kinds have played out through time and space and will continue to coax us on this Reality-TV stage of life.
Ultimately, I'm glad the boy is okay. Too bad he didn't tweet us on Twitter to tell us so. •
© 2009 Chris Dunmire www.chrisdunmire.com All rights reserved. |
