Did anybody see David Blaine’s special Drowned Alive last night? What did you think of it? If you don’t know about it, he wanted to beat the world record of staying underwater without air for 9 minutes (current record is 8 min 58 sec) while also chained up; he’d have to get out of the chains too. He had been immersed in the bubble of water for 7 days prior to the holding breath trick.
I did not want my sons, who are 11 and 8, to see this. They were insistent, and my husband Brian felt it would be ok for them to watch. I love David Blaine’s magic tricks with the cards and stuff but the dangerous stunts leave me cold. And my sons are very active and have very little sense of personal danger, they used to do stuff like jump out of trees and try to skateboard off the porch…just for fun. They like doing bike stunts too. They ADORE David Blaine, he is right up there with wrestling stars and action figures and super hero cartoons/movies to them. But unlike the wrestling stars and super hero cartoons, my sons thought David Blaine had real powers and wanted to learn how to do his stunts.
Brian felt it would be ok for them to see as long as we discussed the reality of the situation during the show. I was still torn, but said ok. I am glad they got to see it because they got to see that David Blaine is just a human being, they no longer think he has ‘true’ magical powers. And they also understand how dangerous these feats of endurance stunts are. When he failed the challenge (he was rescued at 7 minutes 10 seconds after signs of distress) when he was ready to speak he said how humbled he was, and he also cried. That was very powerful for my sons to see, I can’t get over how big an impact this man’s tears had on them.
I realize this stunt was important to David Blaine but I am also very glad he failed…because that showed millions of little boys around the country how silly and senseless this sort of stunt is. But I am glad he felt man enough to cry, to be able to cry. For so many boys to see that, and to see that he is still a man, still a strong man, could go a long way in helping to re-define masculinity, no matter how slight.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1913098&page=1
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- I'm Trula and this is my mommy blog. Being the mother to these children has been one of the most beautiful things to happen to me. Trula Kids, formerly Mama Specific Productions, is part of the MSPmedia network ©2002-2011 All Rights Reserved
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