Once upon a time, there was a little boy who always carried a blue balloon.
He loved his balloon. Every morning when he woke up, the first thing he would do is tie the balloon to his wrist. His balloon was always with him; when he ate breakfast, when he went to school, even when he took a bath. He played with other toys, but he never loved any of them as much as he loved his blue balloon.
He did not have any friends who carried a balloon. They would have balloons at their birthday parties, and it always made him nervous the way the other boys loudly popped balloons and let go of them outside to float far away from reach. He always kept his blue balloon close at those parties to keep it safe.
His parents didn't understand why he was so attached to his balloon, or where he got it. His mom tried to convince him to outgrow the balloon; she pointed out that no one he knew carried a balloon and that other kids might find it strange. This made him feel ashamed, but he refused to part ways with his blue balloon.
His dad tried to grab it away from him and pop it, but the boy shrieked and sobbed so intensely that the father dropped it, more out of surprise than anything. The boy snatched it up and always kept his distance from his dad from that point forward.
The boys in his school and neighborhood carried rocks instead of balloons. It was a popular trend, where the boys would collect rocks and try to outdo each other with how big their rocks were, how sharp, how shiny and how heavy. The boy with the blue balloon did not collect rocks. He had tried to put some in his pockets, but they made him feel too heavy and it made it harder for him to run and climb trees. They left little bruises on his legs from inside the pockets. He much preferred his weightless, floating balloon. It never deflated or sank to the ground like most balloons did; he found it quite magical, and it made him feel lighter and happier to look at it.
Like his mom said, the other boys found it strange. One time at school, several boys surrounded the boy and his balloon and started pelting both with rocks. A teacher saw and stopped the boys from their attack. The balloon didn't pop, but in his fright, the boy had accidentally let the balloon slip away from him and float to the ceiling, out of reach. The teacher said to the upset boy, "You wouldn't have been attacked if it wasn't for the balloon. You should leave it; you'll be safer." The boy cried so bitterly that the teacher sighed and pulled the balloon back down to where the boy could reach it. He snatched it up, double knotted it to his wrist and hid in the school bathroom with his balloon for the rest of the day until he could leave.
He didn't tell his mom what had happened, because she had used the prediction that other boys would find it strange to try and convince him to let go of his balloon. He was afraid that if he told her that the other kids had attacked him because of the balloon, she would take it away for good, and he felt that he had been punished enough for one day.
He didn't tell his dad what had happened, because when the other boys grabbed and snatched at his balloon, he was able to dodge and escape them, but his dad was much bigger and stronger. He was afraid that his dad would finish the work that the other boys had started, and he felt that he had been punished enough for one day.
He wanted someone to hold him and his balloon, but if he had to choose between being comforted and having his balloon, he would always choose the latter.
His Sunday school teacher at church did not like the boy's blue balloon. One day, the teacher separated the boys and girls and gave a lesson to the boys. The lesson was about how, even though they were still little boys, they should start growing into godly men as early as possible. The teacher never addressed the boy directly but looked right at him when he told the group, "Real men do not carry balloons. They learn skills from collecting and competing with rocks as boys, and then use money in place of rocks once they are grown up. Rocks prepare you for the real world. Balloons don't." The boy turned beat red and tried to make himself disappear by scrunching down in his chair, but it was impossible to hide that buoyant blue balloon. He was the only one in the room with a balloon and being called out in a group was even more humiliating. When he couldn't bear the snickering and sneering glances from the other boys, he ran out of the room with his blue balloon streaking wildly after him and hid in the basement until it was time to go home.
