In any election year ‘trial balloons’ are frequently sent up to gauge the public’s acceptance of potential legislation. Often times they do not result in the desired response and the proposed legislation is shelved -- dropped like a lead balloon.
Last month Cheryl and I attended the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. This was not our first time but the size of the crowd had grown exponentially since our previous visit some twenty years or more ago. Even the total number of balloons participating (550 expected over the nine-day event) had increased.
To handle the expected crowds, local schools had closed on Friday to accommodate the use of their buses to transport the attendees from designated pick up and drop off locations around the city to the fiesta grounds.
Everything seemed to work seamlessly and we were able to arrive at the fairgrounds before dawn in order to experience the ‘Special-Shape Rodeo,’ where three-dimensional character balloons and others were laid out on the flat grassy surface, the burners were ignited and began to fill the balloons with hot air. Then in precision, they began silently lifting off in twos and threes into the early morning sky.
However, not every balloon that was filled flew that morning. Some it turned out never intended to fly and it was these balloons, including one of Elvis Presley, that fostered heartfelt disappointment and maybe some resentment where once a sense of wonder and awe had previously filled.
We felt misled. Tricked. Our disappointment was palpable.
Were we the only ones who felt this way?
It reminded me of the disciples leaving Jerusalem for Emmaus, who told the stranger who joined them of their own disappointment and feelings of betrayal, “We thought that he (Jesus) was ‘the one.’ That Jesus was the promised Messiah and that he would free them from the bondage of Roman (and religious) oppression.
In their vulnerability, they had forgotten what the scriptures had foretold. They forgot everything they had experienced along with Jesus and they forgot that he had told them what was going to happen before it did.
Still they did not expect it to be so.
How do we cope with change? How do we react to challenges to our views and our desire to maintain the status quo?
Jesus said, “I have come here to divide Father from son, Mother from daughter… I am a stumbling block for believers.
How do we respond to Jesus’ call to turn the other cheek? Or to welcome the stranger at our door? Who, Jesus asks, is our neighbor?
As Catholics we are not promised a life of peace, tranquility and prosperity. Nor should we feel a sense of entitlement when things don’t go as we had planned.
Certainly Jesus didn’t experience these things himself, nor did he complain to his Father when things went south and demand a ‘do over’ (After all, what’s one more or less balloon in the sky in the great scheme and heavenly Plan of Salvation?)
Instead, Jesus promises that if we take up our cross and follow him that we will be with him in glory. And that’s a promise that won’t (and can’t) disappoint.
John De Gano is a deacon at St. Catherine of Alexandria parish in Riverside.