Are we alone?
Have you ever seen a UFO? Do you even know what it is? Do you care? If you saw something weird up in the sky, would you tell anybody? I mean, they may make an appointment for you to see a psychologist or make a call for the men in white coats to come and carry you away.
The thing is, UFOS have been around for as long as I can remember. My sister and I were great fans of science fiction. We’d make up stories about life on distant planets, intelligent life. They might not look or speak like us or even breathe air. They may breathe something totally different.
I remember that I convinced my sister I had seen a UFO going over our home. I told her about seeing colorful lights and hearing a whirring sound. I told her I thought I saw some kind of face in the UFOS round window. I had her going, let me tell ya. She asked if I called Daddy at the base and of course I didn’t. I had to confess I was telling a tall tale and she got furious with me. I can’t say that I blamed her. She did not like to be made to feel like a fool. Afterward, I felt bad, but she didn’t have to believe me.
My favorite book when I was a kid was “Starship on Saddle Mountain” published in 1955 and written by Atlantis Hallam. That’s quite a name, don’t you think — Atlantis? Anyway, it’s about a boy and his horse being kidnapped by aliens when they landed on Saddle Mountain in the desert Southwest. I read it over and over and imagined I was kidnapped on that ship too. What an adventure I had. They weren’t mean aliens. It’s no longer in print and if you can find a printed copy it’s close to $300!
I love science fiction writers like Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. “War of the Worlds” by Wells is a favorite story of mine. It was made into a movie in 1953 or thereabout. I have to say that it was one of the most frightening and convincingly real movies I’ve seen ever to this day. Tom Cruise made a later version, but it wasn’t as good as the original. When those machines came out of the holes the cylinders made in the earth, it was really creepy and scary. The sound they made was unlike anything I had heard and when they honed in on a target and shot out that concentrated bean of light totally destroying humans and other thing in their way, I knew someone was going to have to come up with a way to kill those things.
There’s a scene in the movie where the two central human characters are holed up in an abandoned farmhouse surrounded by the machines. I sat in my movie chair and partially covered my eyes during that scene. Those machines were operated by some very weak and delicate looking creatures. Turns out they were weak and delicate. Germs on this Earth took them out before we could destroy then. Great movie and ending.
So… have you ever seen a UFO? I have and readily admit it. My family was out on the prairie in Kansas at night looking for jackrabbits. No, not to kill or anything. Daddy liked to turn the car lights off and then turn them back on and the rabbits’ eyes would shine goldish in the headlights. We started stargazing. I mean, you can only see so many jackrabbit eyes in one night. I saw this light go zigzagging every which way. I asked my dad what it was, and he started watching it intensely. Planes don’t do that. “I’ll bet that’s light years away,” my dad answered. One light year is about 6 trillion miles away. It’s hard to fathom that. I know he reported what we all saw once he got back to the base.
Do I think we’re alone in this vast universe, even in our Milky Way galaxy? No, that is simply unfathomable to me. A gazillion stars and planets make up this universe. I simply can’t believe that we are the only life anywhere. I’ve seen weird things up in the heavens right out here in the country. So have other members of my family and friends. Some fly lower and make a deep mechanical sound and, no, it’s not a helicopter.
I’m hoping that something like that wonderful movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” happens and the aliens are friendly. I’d like to get on an alien ship and visit the heavens. Wouldn’t you?
And prove we are not alone.