Five Balloons

  Five balloons, each filled with air from my own lungs, sat in a plastic container before me on my desk. I had taken the liberty of writing words on the balloons and ensuring that each balloon was a different color from the others. Five multicolored balloons. One word on each balloon. Simple.
“No, they’re NOT Power Rangers,” I ensured my youngest son, Micah, who insisted upon poking at the colorful labor of my lungs. “They’re an example.”
I reached into the container and pulled out a single balloon facing the writing I had put on it towards him.
“What does it say?”
“Homework?” Micah frowned back, visibly confused.
I grinned and handed the balloon to him. “Here. Whatever you do, Micah…DO NOT DROP THE BALLOON.”
He looked at me a moment befuddled, then broke into a huge smile. Even at 11 years old, my youngest could neither resist a game nor a balloon.
I reached in and pulled out another, this time tossing it to him instead. He fumbled a moment, but securely held both balloons to his chest.
We continued this process two more times and my son was running out of space to hold them all….but not one balloon had fallen to the floor.
“Just one more, son,” I said, reaching in and pulling out the final balloon. “But it’s by far the biggest balloon you’ll have to hold.”
Micah let out a groan of displeasure, but readied himself to simultaneously catch the final balloon and hold them all in his arms securely.
But as the last balloon went into the air, he knew it would be impossible to hold all of them to his chest. When he reached for the largest balloon, the first one slipped away from him just past his elbow..and one by one they all tumbled to the floor at his feet.
“That’s not fair, dad,” he grumbled. “The last one was too big.”
“The size of the balloon, son, is unimportant.” I began. “The task is to keep them from touching the ground.”
I lifted one up into the air. Then another. And another, until all five were floating before him. As one balloon sank towards the floor, I batted it back up into the air. Micah smiled widely, joining me in the activity.
“Each balloon is a duty in your life,” I continued. “Our responsibility is to never let these duties down; protect and up hold them as best we can.”
Micah continued batting those balloons around for sometime that night. He realized the value of the game we play in our own lives. The lesson we all learn when we drop a balloon.
Our decisions affect all around us and to uphold core values of responsibility is key to our personal victory. Let us take ownership of our duties and conquer them. We all have five balloons to keep off of the floor in our own lives.
How will you keep them all in the air?