It Fascinates

I wake up early these days and run out for coffee and a newspaper from the sparkly clean nearby convenience store. The headline about the (likely) Chinese spy balloon over Montana caught my eye.

Sometimes there is a mild distress that the world is closing in. I think of this when I go through a toll booth and, rather than dropping quarters in a basket, a camera reads my license plate, and soon a bill arrives in the mail. Going to a store where every square foot is monitored by a video camera is, on some level, unsettling.

Remember bank robbers? Not a good thing to try these days. It’s all there on a recording. As a former bank executive once told me (tongue-in-cheek), “You’d have to be pretty dumb to rob a bank today….smarter to get a loan and not pay it back.”

Balloons are iconic and symbolic. On one level they are something that reminds us of simplicity and, perhaps, innocence? It isn’t easy to see them as possibly nefarious. To do that is a little jarring. We all had them as kids. Watching a newly acquired blue helium balloon escape into the sky is a memory that remains vivid for me. Childrens’ stories have been written about them.

Looking at the news sites this afternoon, it appears that this balloon up in the sky is resulting in a diplomatic episode of some potential significance. I’m not alone in my interest. Friends have checked in to tell me they are captivated by the story.

Leaves one wondering just how this odd event will play out. If you have a dream tonight that features a balloon, don’t be too surprised by that. Understandable under the circumstances.