The story of this US balloon boy is quite saddening. There are many more terrible things happening every day in the world but this sort of stories makes you wonder about the society we live in. In order to get some media attention and for the purpose of getting into some reality tv shows, this family pretended one of their sons had been carried away in a helium balloon. Even prompting the autorities to close down an airport for the duration of the “rescue” mission. Which obviously resulted in finding no child in the balloon because he was safely hiding at home.

Besides the obvious what saddens me the most in this are the motivations. Is being in a reality tv show what people want to do in life? I imagine being rich and famous is quite appealing to many people but I think the way you get there is almost as important as getting there. This sort of publicity stunts is certainly not the way to do it and is simply appalling.