Last Sunday night I watched the Science Channel special about the landing of the new Mars Phoenix Lander, and it got me thinking.
What if the little green men showed up?
When I was in the fourth grade, my class went to the Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta. They had built a diorama of the Viking lander and the surface of Mars. I remember commenting to my teacher Mrs. Myrick, that it sure looked real, and I’ll always remember her reply: “They do amazing things in Hollywood.”
My nine year old brain suddenly went into overdrive. Remember, I had seen Star Wars the summer before, (that’s another story) so I started wondering… “could it be fake?”
I know, I know, the moon landing was a hoax, Area 51, and all that stuff. But, think about it, what if Viking had landed on Mars and there they were, little green men raising a ruckus that we had just wrecked his house. #1- Would the government have told us? And #2- How would we react?
Well, its no secret that the government lies to us, most people take it as a fact of life. We have all heard the phrase “Above Top Secret”, and to be honest, the government treats us like lost little sheep who can’t handle the truth.
Maybe we can, maybe we can’t.
I honestly don’t care if Oswald acted alone, or if there wasn’t WMD in Iraq. The government MUST keep some secrets in order for its intelligence apparatus to function. Yes, some things I’m curious about, but its not going to effect the way I live my life. Who knows, maybe I’ll live long enough for the security classification to expire.
But, I digress.
Our record for landings on Mars isn’t very good, over fifty-five percent don’t make it. Maybe it’s the Galactic Ghoul, bad wiring, or Martian surface to air missiles, who knows? The green men could be there, or not.
But if they are….
THERE WOULD BE PANIC IN THE STREETS!!!!!
I like to think I know a little about human behavior, and if they were real, we’d FREAK. Humans as a species are so wrapped in their own hubris of being alone in the universe, we are blinded to the fact there could be life right next door.
We say that we “reach for the stars” when we need to be looking in our own backyard.
That’s my opinion anyway.
Take it for what it’s worth.
