Today, October 15th, 2009 on television almost all the news stations were carrying a story about a boy in a balloon. It seems that the father had created this huge balloon filled with helium and it came loss from it's ties and took off. One problem, rumor had it that a six year old boy was inside the balloon. Well as the nation watched the balloon travel some 25 plus miles through many counties reports said that at one point the balloon rose to as much as 7,000 feet. However later reports stated that it was around 3,000 feet. Eventually the balloon landed in a field some two hours later and rescuers found that no boy was inside (Thank God).
As it turns out the boy was never inside the balloon, was never in danger and was hiding in fear of getting in trouble. (Understandable),
My point for sharing this is because as our nation watched this all unfolding and I'm sure that everyone was deeply concerned for the six year old boy. But the reality was and is, that the boy was never in the balloon.
Although all turned out great and the six year old boy is fine. Just imagine that almost 100% of the nation watching was convinced that a boy was in the balloon. While there is so much good in the news, it also goes to show the power of news and how easily a situation can grab the attention of an entire nation, even when what appears to be, is not.
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