Pretty cool thing to happen on an early Saturday morning, right? It's not every day that air balloons land right in front of your house. It was great! It was exciting but in the midst of it, I had about 5 seconds where my heart stopped and I was in disbelief. Right before the picture at 0:21, I had yelled to the balloonists, "Do you need any help?" "Yes!" they yelled back. The picture shows my husband running to the balloon in his bare feet. I then expected people to run to his aid to help. As I filmed (in my pajamas), I saw in my peripheral vision people walking up to help. Or so I thought. When they weren't approaching my husband or the balloon, to my amazement, everyone was recording with their phones! I was horrified until I realized that my husband was totally phone and proceeded to assist a second balloon land.
Social media has affected our society in unimaginable ways. The need to feed our voracious viral community has sometimes manipulated and at other times dulled our senses. Random acts of human kindness are replaced with staged and scripted acts all for the sake of views or likes. Everyone wants to be the first to upload, post or tweet just in case it goes viral. Because in social media, going viral is equated with doors of opportunity opening. Having a viral video opens up the possibility of being on "The Ellen Show" or getting sponsors, commercials or starting your own YouTube channel. The end game is that it's all about the money.
There is a common denominator that most heroes, heroines and good samaritans have. Selflessness. They're too busy helping and assisting to think about video recording for the sake and possibility of becoming a viral video star. Often times, their acts of kindness are never seen, heard or spoken of. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying video recording is wrong, but it definitely has its pros and cons. It's definitely a con, when you see someone in need of help and instead of running to their aid, you take out your smartphone to record.
As you see in the video, my husband stayed with the balloon that needed his help the most. He stayed with that balloon until the very end until they were ready to deflate it. No fanfare. No appreciation. He was just a kind human who wanted to help...selflessly.
My husband. My hero.
