Children in flying Jiffy Pop bags

Yesterday, a 6 year old went missing in Colorado. The child's parents, his neighbors, his siblings, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, Headline News, the National Guard, The Justice League, and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, were all convinced that Falcon Heene had climbed into an experimental weather balloon type vehicle, cast the ropes aside, and ascended into the stratosphere. From what I was reading on Fark and from the constant CNN coverage, I also thought the worst. I watched for an hour or so at my desk as this balloon soared to 8000 ft at 20 mph. I kept telling myself to stop watching it. There was no way, I thought, that this was going to end well, and CNN was clearly going to show it in gruesome detail. But I kept watching, as I'm sure most people, who were bored at work and had nothing better to do, did. But I didn't like myself for watching it, I didn't like CNN for covering it, and I didn't like the thought of a six year old in a flimsy balloon hurtling to his death on live television.

I wondered if I would have been as affected two years ago. I probably would have been concerned but I also would have moved on pretty quickly. But I didn't know any kids two years ago; not only do I know a few now, I also have one. I hear it's fairly cliche for people to go from being unconcerned about children to being fearful for every child, so I'm not going to admit to that. But I will say that my impressions about things that happen to children have changed since started hanging out with Avery on a regular basis. Right now, I'm not all that concerned about Jack; he can't even roll over. But I do know the amount of anguish I felt at simply bumping his head on the door last night, so thinking about him alone, 8000 ft above the ground, cold, scared, and in a great deal of danger has a pretty profound effect on me.

But really.

Falcon's parents didn't think to check the attic? They didn't look in every single nook, cranny, box, and cabinet in the house?

Strange.