The Human-Balloon - (A short story)

Back in the days when salespeople drove into town with their wares in the trunk of their cars, they would set up shop at the town center, or go house to house selling and demonstrating the use of their products to the people.

One nice and warm summer day, a salesman came into a quiet sleepy town where he saw a bunch of children flying their kites, running around in the fields. There and then, he knew that he had come to the right place. He had no doubt that his merchandise of balloons would be a hit with the children. He could imagine them flying the balloons, without needing to run to catch the wind, to take off upwards. They could also have fun indoors because balloons are very light, and mommy could have no fears of them dropping and breaking things in the house.

For the clincher, he had something special to make his balloons soar faster and higher than any kite ever could. It was helium – a gas that is much lighter than air.

After visiting City Hall to get the necessary permits, he set up a tent in the field at the center of town The folks noticed and were curious about the many floating and colorful balls tied to the posts of his make shift shop. Soon they started coming closer to find out about these colorful floating balls. They had never seen anything of its type before.

The salesman explained that these “balls” were actually called balloons, and that they were one of the new wonders of science. He explained how very large balloons could be attached to gondolas and are being used to travel by air, even across the ocean. Most of the folks could not imagine what he was talking about, and the salesman was not about to waste time trying to explain further. So he quickly added. “Right folks, no need to bother our heads about air travel. But, these here balloons can give hours of fun to children and, even, adults who like to play. Now let me hear, who wants to have fun”, he asked very loudly. An outcry of “Yes, yes”, came from the crowd of children who were already poking at the balloons and giggling as they watched them bop up and down. The sales man continued, “As you can see these balloon are already floating without me having to run to catch the wind. Also if untied, they will take off much faster than any kite could. To demonstrate, he took one of the uninflated balloons on the table on which he had setup and attached it a helium canister. In no time, the balloon inflated, and after he had tied the mouth, he released it. Cries of oohs and ahhs accompanied the released balloons as it sped off into the sky. The kids especially were thrilled as they watched in great delight.

The salesman now focused on the adults in the crowd and said, “Now, imagine yourself at a banquet, or a family gathering. And picture the room with many of these lovely colorful balloons floating and hugging the ceiling. What a beautiful site that would be, won’t it?”

A few seconds passed, and everyone started nodding their heads. They could imagine the red, yellow, green, blue and white balloons forming a beautiful canopy to the room.

Now with his gaze sweeping across the audience, he added, “So you see, no need to run and risk falling to get balloons to fly, as you have to with kites. Neither do balloons have sharp edges that kids need to be careful about”.

This last remark drew an approving nodding of heads from the women in the crowd.

After a brief silence, one of the women asked, “But, how can kids play with them if the balloons are high up in the sky or hugging the ceiling?”

“A very good question”, replied the salesman.

“The beauty of balloons is that they can also be inflated by blowing into them with your breath”. And he proceeded to demonstrate how. After tying up this other balloon he released it, and the audience saw that this one hovered close to the ground. So that anyone, even a little child could pick it to toss around.

Now all the mothers and children were very happy, seeing that balloons are a safe toy, even for toddlers.

Without further persuasion, the salesman sold many balloons of different colors as well as canisters of helium gas. Almost every family in town bought balloons. And in no time, he sold all of the merchandise that he had brought with him.

The next day he bade a happy fare well to the town folks with a promise to return soon. They too were happy that he had come their way and introduced this new toy to them.

A couple of months passed, and the salesman was again travelling through the valley. He decided to stop at the town to see how things were going. More especially he wanted to see if they needed new balloons to replace the ones that surely had burst. He reckoned too that they would need to refill their helium canisters.

He arrived on the day of a big event in the town. The grand reception room of the city hall had been decorated with flowers and the venue was packed with folks all nicely dressed. As he approached, he was gladdened to see children playing with balloons outside and some inside, at the back of the hall.

He raised his eyes up as he entered the hall, expecting to see balloons hugging the ceiling. But not one met his searching gaze. This was not too much of a surprise. “It is not unusual to run out of helium”, he thought to himself. But he knew also that he had left his contact information for anyone who needed to replenish their supply of balloons or helium. He had told them too that helium refill would be supplied free of charge, without delivery cost. So he wondered why no one in the town had taken advantage of this wonderful offer to beautify their event venue.

Just then the mayor of the town came walking towards him, as he was making his way out of the hall. “Hello there”, he called to the salesman, since he recognized him. “Welcome back to our town. You came on a very festive day.” Yes I see that”, replied the salesman, “So what’s the occasion”, he asked? “Why, Mary-Lou and Jim-Bob have tied the knot, and the whole town is here to celebrate them. I am on my way to fetch them so that the celebration can begin in earnest”, added the mayor. “But your honor”, said the salesman to the mayor, “I am surprised that balloons are not being used to decorate the ceiling on this festive occasion. Is that because the town has run out of helium?” “Not at all” replied the mayor. “But we adults have decided that balloons are best left as the plaything of children. Keeps them busy. We adults have more important adult things on which to spend our time. Occasionally we join the kids in playing with balloons. But this is usually on Sundays or special holidays Anyway, no time to dwell on this now as I have to go fetch Mary-Lou and Jim-Bob”. Having said that, the mayor hurried away.

Also, it was obvious to the salesman that there would be little or no opportunity to do any business on that day, seeing as everyone was attending the wedding feast to which he too was now invited, and he saw no reason not to stay and attend.

But through the whole event, he kept wondering why the adults would choose not to add color to the venue with helium filled balloons. They had enough balloons, and many of the helium canisters, he had found out through casual inquiry from some of the people sitting next to him, still had enough gas in them. Perhaps they had forgotten him mentioning that in some places people were actually experimenting with attaching balloons to raise gondolas high up in the sky to sail on air currents. True he had emphasized the fun aspects of the balloon during his sales pitch. But could the higher potential value of balloons have eluded the adults of this town? He began to wonder whether in focusing on selling, he had failed to impress the adults with the huge potential waiting to be unearthed in balloons.

Now he started to feel somewhat responsible that the adults in this town saw balloons as a plaything only for children.

As he mulled over this feeling, he recalled an analogy that his parish priest had used during one of his sermons. In it, he used the analogy of human beings as balloons. And he described that which drives us as the gas with which we have filled our human-balloon. The finer/lighter the propellant within us, the higher and loftier our outlook and desires would be.

The priest described three types of human-balloon conditions.

There are those that are lying on the floor, uninflated, offering little to no joy or pleasure to anyone.

The majority of human-balloons are inflated with air that they have blown with their own breath. Such balloons float, but only to a low height, quickly falling down to bop around the floor. The activities of such human-balloons he described as operating at the level of a child compared to the full potential of a helium-filled balloon. Thus, the priest likened the much touted achievements of such human-balloons as inferior, with as many problems attached to any successes.

The third condition of which there are very few, are human-balloons that are filled with lighter gas. These are the ones that take off to loftier heights, to give pleasure, and inspiration to all. The contributions of these human-balloons to society are far reaching and bring blessing that are long lasting.

The priest explained further that the balloons on the floor represent those human beings who have no desire to learn anything about themselves or the world. They have chosen to remain down where they lie, not moving inwardly. The balloons inflated with our breath are similar to when we inflate ourselves with our own ideas and beliefs. With this we rise a little and float a bit. But we also quickly fall back down to the ground. The rise and falls reflect the short lived elevation attributable to infusing ourselves with our own theories and ideas about Life and Living. The balloons filled with helium are analogous to those human beings who seek and allow themselves to be filled with knowledge emanating from the higher realms of Creation. Thus filled, they aspire to loftier goals and deeds, and through this attain a much broader and wider perspective, as well as understanding of Life.

In ending the sermon, the priest pointed out that even a helium filled balloon will eventually fall to the ground, as its helium gas slowly leaks out. This too reflects another critical human condition.

He elaborated that the very fact that we live in the material world means that we will invariably imbibe that which is material, in order to operate effectively here. But, to prevent ourselves from eventually succumbing to the material, and to retain our loftier motivation, we must consciously endeavor to remain continually connected to guidance and inspiration from the higher realms, that being the helium needed to keep our human-balloon afloat. If we succeed in maintaining this connection, our material activities will be tempered and guided by the higher Spiritual guidance. As a result, we will ride the currents of Life, living above the up and down bopping of the ego filled human-balloon condition.

With the recall of that sermon, it suddenly dawned on the salesman how even the most ordinary of activities contain analogies that can lead to wisdom and Spiritual growth.

Here he was, he had been selling balloons for some time and had not, until now, seen how a sermon he had enjoyed listening to had any relevance to his everyday working life. Then, he wondered how many others happily perform their tasks or jobs without trying to see the important life messages that are embedded in them.

There and then, he decided that in the days to come he would try to approach his work, which he enjoyed very much, searching for the higher meanings for life hidden in it. How or what he needed to do to attain this goal he did not as yet know. But, he resolved to send up a silent prayer to the Heavens for strength, wisdom and guidance on what to say henceforth, as he mixed and talked with people again. But most important, he would endeavor to keep his channels of communication open to the guiding promptings that he was sure would come from above, if he wanted to keep light the content of his human-balloon