Of the many responses I have had to my articles about UFOs one that really touched me was "A ‘high five’ to the little green men from the blonde chick! I’d vote for them." Hey, given the present crop of politicians we can be excused if any of us think our options might be better with space aliens.

While corresponding with this lovely blonde chick, I made comment about a picture I have on my wall. It shows a log cabin with a small stream nearby. There are two Canadian geese in a pond formed by the stream, there is an old pickup parked next to the cabin. It is sundown and the dim glow of a lamp can be seen showing through the front window. All is so peaceful and serene I look at the picture often, wishing to end my days in such a setting, my idea of heaven on earth. I shared this thought with the lovely blonde and she replied, "No chicks in your pic on the wall? My, my, we have to re-adjust your thinking!!!" That certainly got my attention. I quickly assured her my idea of heaven on earth included a lady with me inside the cabin. Ok, so I’m a very normal man in most respects. Snow on the roof but fire…

Well, granted association with the fair sex and writing of beautiful women and romance is preferable to writing about UFOs. But like a beautiful woman, UFOs do have their attraction for me. And like beautiful women UFOs are open to a lot of speculation, much of which could be cast in the same format of scientific inquiry, some of which I indulge in my book Birds With Broken Wings. And being a fairly normal man I would prefer writing books about women and romance than books about UFOs. Then too, I’ve had experience with women, but have never encountered space aliens or been abducted by a UFO. Though when it comes to alien thinking and behavior and women… but I digress.

In a world made smaller by instant communication satellites it is difficult for us inhabitants of earth to find places where no one has gone before. This makes space exploration all the more appealing. It isn’t like we have exhausted the mysteries here on earth or explored all the ocean depths for example, but there is just something about space exploration that puts it into a class by itself, this driving desire to know what is "out there." It is this reaching for the stars that makes all the bickering and wars on earth so exasperating. What if humankind could solve the problems tearing nations apart and bend our concerted efforts to the science that might enable us to find and colonize other worlds or even make contact with inhabitants of other worlds.

But it would be hard to imagine anything that would so scare the beejabbers out of people than to have a flying saucer actually land on the White House lawn. However, for those of us who really enjoy SciFi and appreciate the speculation on the part of serious SciFi enthusiasts there is always the disquieting "what if?" accompanying such stories. Fact is Tommy Lee Jones was right on the button. The person is ok, but people as a bunch are apt to respond like a mob of frenzied animals when threatened, and I can think of few things that would throw people into such frenzy as that flying saucer actually landing on the White House lawn or other similar well known spot with the TV cameras rolling showing the whole world the worst fears realized by those claiming "We are not alone!" I’m more of the opinion any such visitors would find us considerably lacking in saving graces, especially if they have already formed their opinion of humankind by tuning in on our TV broadcasts.

While qualified scientists can be found on various sides of the issue of Intelligent Design, even some holding to the theory our solar system may in fact be unique in the universe, there is nevertheless too much of a disquieting circumstantial evidence other planets like ours exist supporting intelligent life. While some outstanding scientists like Michio Kaku theorize if other civilizations existed they may well have reached our stage of nuclear development and destroyed themselves, there remains in the minds of most that other civilizations in the universe do exist. But as some have pointed out, if such civilizations have mastered galactic or intergalactic travel so as to visit earth they would be so far advanced technologically as to appear virtually miraculous beings much like the angels of the Bible. Imagine a person today knowledgeable of all our technology attempting to communicate with a Neandertal. That cave man TV ad is funny, but it would be no joke if the comparison held true for alien visitors coming to earth.

While "Contact" was a pretty good film, one of the really serious issues was the "what if" of a tremendously advanced civilization’s first impression of humankind being that televised program of Hitler? I somehow doubt that would be followed by an advanced civilization capable of what the film portrayed wanting to lend any kind of assistance to a bunch of "Neandertals."

Science fiction of the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon variety in the funny papers I knew as a child did seem relatively innocent. Even the science fiction of those like Jules Verne and H. G. Wells was for the most part free of real worry because very few people were taking such stories seriously. Sure, there was talk of Mars and Venus, how creatures might exist on these planets, but for the most part such talk wasn’t taken very seriously; but there was enough such talk and literature to make palpably plausible that one scare in 1938.

The power of radio certainly evidenced itself when Orson Welles made that 1938 broadcast during the CBS Mercury Theater adaptation of H. G. Wells’ "The War of the Worlds." It is difficult for people of the TV generation to comprehend what it must have been like back in a time when radio stars were held in the same esteem one might expect of rock stars today, when people had their favorite radio programs just as people today have their favorite TV programs. What is lacking in TV is the imagination that folks exercised while listening to those old radio programs, and nowhere at the time did this power of radio upon imagination prove itself as in that broadcast of War of the Worlds.

At the time of Welles’ broadcast The Mercury Theater had a listening audience of millions. But the hysteria created by the broadcast was due to some listeners tuning in late to the show or missing the station breaks and disclaimers. Having gotten the attention of the whole country as a result, Welles became a real household name even getting the attention of the government. To this day it is being debated whether Welles intended the outcome of his broadcast. My point being that the kind of hysteria generated by Welles’ broadcast is the kind we could rightly expect of that saucer landing on the White House lawn.

Last night as I lay in the dark solitude of my little cottage here in the country the thought came to me "What is best to believe?" I think a lovely lady’s comment about "suspended belief" is probably the best course. There are just too many things making demands on our beliefs. In the case of UFOs, while I have seen such things I don’t know what they were; so I’m going to suspend belief in such things. Maybe that Frisco ad for a fitness center that caused such a flap "When they come, they will eat the fat ones first!" wasn’t off the mark. And if so, I don’t want to know. But then, I’ve always had a lean frame and don’t need to worry about them coming to me recipe book in hand on "How to serve man." Some will remember that one. Better yet, I think I’ll ask the blonde chick if she has a friend, one that wouldn’t mind putting up with a man who thinks that log cabin is heaven on earth and only requires a lady to complete the picture. If I’m going to fantasize, better the fair sex than little green men.