Balloon incident a bit too much

We have satellites that can see ants in a basement in Queens, N.Y., yet we are still blowing money on wild goose chases.

The course of action seems logical at first. Someone goes missing and immediately, police and government agents look for the first possible place where he or she could be.

That first place could be a cellar. It could also be a stranger’s house. It could even be under the bed. In some cases, the first possible place could be a little outlandish, even extreme.

Like, for instance, a homemade helium weather balloon.

It is understandable that when a child goes missing, the family and authorities can get a little irrational trying to find him. There is no shame in thinking that he could literally be anywhere. But really, to think that he is floating around the Colorado countryside in a balloon that had no evidence of being open is a little crazy.

A couple hours and plenty of wasted resources later, the balloon touches down, never opened, without the six-year-old boy inside. It never even occurred to a soul that the little boy, like all little boys, was curious, let the balloon loose, then hid somewhere to escape the wrath of his father.

Now the energy put into looking for the boy was notable. But a little more rationality would have gone a long way in locating the boy a lot faster.

Jordan Culver for the Editorial Board.