Proof Positive

UFO crash into asteroid.

Dead Alien.

The number one cause of alien crashes.

 If you want to stay alive, don't drink and drive.

Did I ever tell you that I saw a UFO one time? My cousin Randy and I were playing outside in the backyard at dark when we saw something funny in the sky. We noticed a light like a high flying jet or something in the eastern sky. It was moving slowly north. It looked too high for an airplane. We were trying to decide what it was when it stopped moving. No airplane could do that. We kept watching it for a long time but it never moved again. I'm not sure if there were satellites in the sky back then so I really don't know what it was but since we were kids we decided it must be a UFO watching us. Not us, specifically, but us as in us earthlings. Maybe we were right. I wouldn't be surprised. Were there satellites in the 50's that moved around in outer space? 

I always loved reading science fiction and dreamed of a world in the future with glorious new inventions and advances in technology that were 'out of this world'. It's amazing how far we have come since I was born. TV was the big thing back then. We progressed to microwave ovens and computers and fiber optics and cell phones today. God knows what the world will be like by the time I die. Maybe we will have animated robots attending us in nursing homes or hospitals in the future.

NASA created and invented new technology and advances we would have never had otherwise. I am sad to see that the government is eliminating the space shuttle program. They said we could ride the Russian space shuttle for about fifty million dollars. Doesn't that sound like the stupidest thing you can think of? We are now going to have to hitch rides to the space station with Russia? What the hell is wrong with our government? We have advanced more in science and technology than we would have in a couple of hundred years without it. Our government program guaranteed America a voice in space travel. Why are they turning this over to civilians like that millionaire Richard Branson? We have left thousands of pieces of space trash floating around in outer space. Can you imagine how much crap a company run space program will leave in outer space? 

Mankind is destructive. Men came to the American continent and carelessly destroyed a culture and numerous indigenous people along the way. Mankind is like a nest of ants that build and build and destroy everything in it's wake. Look how mankind rapes the planet with strip mining and deforestation. Pollution causes global warming and the melting of the glaciers. I worry about how much destruction we can cause.

In my fevered imaginings of my youth I believed the human race would explore and conquer other planets and someday we could colonize planets across the galaxy. Maybe we wouldn't encounter alien species like we saw on Star Trek but we might change and evolve in different ways after being separated on different planets over time. Humans would have to adjust to different conditions on different planets and none of them would be like earth. 

I think the space program should be allowed to continue, not only for the the thrill of reaching for the stars but also for the benefits it affords society because of the human imagination. Too bad my vote doesn't count.

How would you like to do without your microwave? Or cell phone? Or computer? 

Sculpture by Andy Stoner

painted by Pam Strickland 
bottle added by Scout Strickland 

As Always

PIO