It has become a trend over the last few years for couples and expectant parents to add some excitement to revealing their child’s gender. Whacking baseballs filled with blue or pink powder, balloons, smoke bombs and even combining the reveal with a baby shower are all harmless, innovative activities soon-to-be parents partake in.
In Tangará da Serra, Brazil, one couple may have gone too far for their gender reveal and may very well suffer the consequences.
An unidentified couple used the Queima-Pé River waterfall to reveal the gender of their expected baby boy in one of the most environmentally crippling ways: by dyeing it blue.
The river provides most of the clean drinking water for the Tagará community, which just suffered a long period of drought, meaning the only valuable water source for the municipality may be contaminated.
Locals, as well as people on social media who have been following the story, have called for the couple to be charged with an environmental crime.
“I just cannot fathom how anybody would think this is a good idea,” said one Twitter user.
“How is this even legal? Like, ethically, that’s out the window. Common sense went out the window, too. Did they think about the environmental impact their little reveal would have? People are so selfish,” asked another.
The couple is currently under investigation by the local government, while the state of Mato Grosso, the region where Tagará da Serra is located, announced it will also be inspecting the damage done by the materials used to dye the waterfall.
It’s almost as if couples in today’s society are trying to one-up each other in silly, unnecessary activities all for the revealing of their child’s gender. Every time another party pops up on social media, the first thought is “what went wrong this time?”
More importantly, why should we care? Why must we conform to the constant pictures and reels of fuchsia and teal shoved in our faces on a regular basis? It’s fine to film and document your reveal, but admit it: there is absolutely no appeal to a reveal unless something goes horribly wrong. Unless a window is broken or a balloon doesn’t pop when it’s supposed to, viewers have little-to-no reason to watch, like, comment or share.
Those are what get the headlines, unfortunately, and with this couple on the Queima-Pé River, they may be arrested solely because of one of these colorful, daft parties.
Don’t take this the wrong way. While this couple may be lacking the IQ to avoid what could inevitably doom the entire community and its ecological well-being, there have been some really, really bad reveal party ideas. This includes an Ohio gender reveal party that ended with two gunmen killing one person, injuring eight others and causing the expected mother to miscarry, as well as the gender reveal that caused a 47,000-acre wildfire and eight million dollars of damage.
Hopefully, this recent couple has what’s coming to them. Anyone selfish enough to endanger the town for the purpose of a reveal party should be punished accordingly, whether that involves hefty fines, being banned from the Queima-Pé indefinitely or spending some time in a Tangará prison.
This can be a valuable lesson for all expecting parents. Stick with the popping of balloons, cracking of baseballs and booms of smoke bombs. Wildfires and water contamination can be for another time.
alamatt1@ramapo.edu
Photo courtesy of Janet, Flickr.
