Historically, releasing balloons has been a meaningful way to symbolically honor someone's life, celebrate special occasions, to raise awareness for a cause or even just for a photo op.
More recently, however, people are being urged to stop releasing balloons into the air and opt for other means of celebration.
TikToker @prairiejess (Jess) created a video to show exactly why.
Jess, who has a farm in Texas, gave viewers a glimpse of where these released balloons can end up, and honestly, it's pretty eye-opening.
As the creator walked outside toward a fence filming her farm with all her animals, she shared a story about being in a store with a woman who was purchasing balloons to release on her deceased mother's birthday.
"So imma tell you right now, I don't care if this video pisses you off."
"I was at the Dollar Store a couple of weeks ago and this lady's buying balloons and they say 'Happy Birthday.'"
Jess then revealed the woman shared her intentions, and y'all, Jess gives it to you straight.
She told the woman:
“Oh, you shouldn’t release them."
"You know, those will wind up in pastures and animals could eat them.”
When the woman said she was going to do it anyway, Jess unloaded a harsh - yet truthful - fact.
"I hate to tell you people this, but your dead mama or dead relative in Heaven ain't getting those balloons."
The camera then panned to her fence, and Jess revealed:
"This is where they end up - right here, in my yard."
Jess picked up a shiny gold balloon near her animals.
“So, hot take on that: Your dead relative in Heaven doesn’t need any f**king balloons."
You can watch the TikTok below.
While a couple of viewers did give Jess a hard time for criticizing others' grieving processes, most thanked her for spreading awareness about the ongoing situation.
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Others shared alternative ways to honor loved ones.
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Hopefully Jess' video - which has been viewed nearly 850k times by the way - will cause others to think twice about releasing balloons and perhaps choose a more environmentally friendly way to pay their respects.
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