Photo by AP
The whole world was riveted with the thought of a boy stuck in a runaway balloon. But horror turned into shock when evidence slowly emerged with the possibility of the whole ordeal being a hoax made up by the parents. The shock then turned into disbelief and anger.
The question that kept on running through the minds of people was – “How can parents involve their child in a lie just to further their own selfish desires?”
Richard and Mayumi Heene, the parents of the “balloon boy” were amateur storm chasers and it was reported that they wanted to land a T.V. show deal and become famous. They have already appeared on the reality T.V. show, “Wife Swap” but that was not enough.
Some people who knew the family shared that the Heenes were “obsessed” with being famous in order to make money. The Heenes wanted to star in a reality show that focused on bizarre experiments and this hoax of falsely reporting that their 6-year-old son, Falcon, was in the helium balloon was a media stunt to promote the reality TV show in the making.
This has even raised questions about co-conspirators. The police are investigating a media outlet that had agreed to pay the Heenes for the publicity.
In light of all this craziness, the thing that we have to consider is how far would a person go in order to become famous and make money. It is easy to judge the Heenes but if we are honest with ourselves there are a lot of things that we are doing or have done so that we can be recognized and be in the spotlight.
But there some things that we have to consider when it comes to fame:
2) There is the pretense in fame. Why is that we somehow convince ourselves that if we were more famous then, life would be so much better? Fame is a like a mirage. What it promises, it cannot really deliver. We might feel good about being “known” but at the end it is easy to feel all alone.
3) There is the price for fame. The glamorous life of the “rich and famous” always seems appealing, but we cannot forget that there is a price to pay for the fame. You ask any of the famous people around the world and they would confess that they miss the times when they were able to just go out for ice cream or eat at a restaurant without people coming up to them asking for a picture. With fame, nothing is private. You are constantly under a microscope (or shall I say in a fishbowl).
When everything is said and done, fame is not always what it is cut out to be, especially, when you tell your child to lie. The price of ruining your integrity and character, and even your relationship with your children, it is clear that it is not really worth it.
Maybe if we start putting the focus and attention on making God famous, then things might end up a bit different. In fact, it might just surprise us.