Balloon boy

Americans are generous and compassionate people. They voluntarily donate huge amounts to charities in good times and bad. And they will set aside the concerns of the day to watch and pray when they think a 6-year-old boy might be floating perilously in a balloon.

But that charity turns quickly to outrage if they think you’re jerking their chain for a publicity stunt, or to hide something. Remember the runaway bride, Jennifer Carol Wilbanks? How about former Eagle Mountain Mayor Kelvin Bailey, who said he was kidnapped at gunpoint when he really just needed some time to himself?

Falcon Heene (Thursday’s balloon boy), belongs to a family with a past that raises suspicions. They were on a TV reality show, and they apparently love publicity.

Then, of course, there was the strange comment from Falcon on television that the balloon thing apparently was “for a show.”

You can almost feel America’s sentiments turning.

None of this is real evidence, of course. Kids say strange things. A family would have to be eccentric to mess around with balloons like that and chase storms. That doesn’t prove they made all this up.

But authorities need to investigate this one from top to bottom. Not only did Thursday’s chase and search cost a lot of real money (not counting all the time I’m guessing you wasted at work following it), but we just can’t let people mess with the feelings of a generous nation.

What do you think?