It was an astonishing sight, at first. It was curious. It was outrageous.
Flying over the United States, the Chinese spy balloon – well within sight of all who might gaze up at the sky – made most of us quite angry.
How dare they? Did the Chinese think we’re all too self-absorbed to notice? Did they care?
It entered in Alaska. Then floated over a bit of Canada. Then, drifted over Montana, where it was first brought to America’s attention. Apparently, the military knew it was there all along, but at least, they finally decided to tell us: Look up! Know what that is? It’s a balloon that is probably spying on missile installations in Montana!
I loved it when a Montana legislator made an emphatic, but simple, three-word statement: Shoot. It. Down. Yes! Blow the cursed thing out of the sky. After all, it was over Montana, one of the least populated states. Nothing much but a gorgeous, deserted stretch of empty land.
The powers that be decided it might be harmful to some Americans on the ground, so they just let it fly. Nosing all the way across the country, into all our sensitive business. Taking heaven knows how many photographs, of heaven knows how many secrets.
We learned that it had been decided by those who make such decisions, that they would wait until it was over open water: The Atlantic Ocean.
Here’s what I know about the Atlantic Ocean: We have 12 – just 12 – miles of U.S. between us and international waters. Twelve miles. Could they do it?
Our well-trained military aircraft surged into action. And, sure enough, they aimed and they fired and BOOM, the Chinese intruder was gone, gone, gone. It was a beautiful, affirming sight to see it blown to pieces and drift down. Across America, people cheered. I was one of them. “Yes!” I shouted, pumping my fist in the air. I’ll bet you might have done that, too.
The Chinese tried to make us believe the thing was a meteorological device – a weather balloon – that had simply flown off course. Did they think we’d actually believe that? The intelligence-gathering package – as big as three buses – could easily be seen on the thing’s underside. Was it sending sensitive photos back to China in “real-time”? I happen to think so.
But maybe, just maybe, they were planning to go through all our business once the balloon made it back to China. I don’t think that’s the case.
The U.S. Navy kicked into action. Boats and ships loaded with Navy SEALS hied to the coast of Myrtle Beach and began searching. And sure enough, they found scraps of the thing. Each night on the news, bigger scraps and strips of the deflated balloon appeared. The Navy put in an unmanned underwater drone, which cruised along beneath the wreckage, looking for “the package” that would contain the information the spy balloon collected. By Tuesday night, they had found it. It’s Wednesday, and I can’t wait for the news tonight. I’m hoping they will eventually tell us just what was contained.
China, of course, is miffed. Too bad. They’re claiming that balloon is their property, and we have no right to have destroyed it and captured their payload. They want it back. They ain’t getting it!
I’m sure this international incident is just in its early stages. Who knows what may come of it?
But, aren’t we all terribly proud of our military might and expertise? You’ve really just gotta love that!
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