Follow-Up Article on O'Hare UFO

Scully: Whatever happened to trust no one?

Mulder: I changed it to trust everyone. Didn't I tell you?

No, I am not fixated on UFOs (really, I'm not....honestly). This news item has simply given me an excuse to trot out some old X-files photos. I never thought about it before, but the landscape in Mulder's poster looks a lot like Felton. By the way, there's a wine from Bonny Doon Vineyard named "Le Cigare Volant," which has a "flying cigar" style of saucer on the label. And my point? Well, there isn't one--except that I had a glass of Le Cigare Volant at my writing group's Christmas party. It was quite good. I'll leave it to the Lone Gunmen to figure out the connections.

Anyway, John Hilkevitch of the Chicago Tribune has done a stellar job of reporting on the O'Hare UFO (intentional pun, thank you), and I liked his current article on the subject. It addresses the question of why there's possibly no photograph, and that this sighting--no matter what it ultimately turns out to be--gives us " a chance to hope, to dream."

For me, stargazing has always been a reminder of the relative smallness of whatever problems I am facing. I realize I am a nanosecond in the great time frame of the cosmos, that my concerns and worries, my fears and delights, are just a slender thread in the galaxy's tapestry of light. I can't look up into the stunning milk-glass disc of Andromeda or the Milky Way's tattered ribbon and convince myself that we are the only ones who ponder the mystery of whether we are alone in the universe. Maybe some group of beings solved that riddle long ago. The truth is, we don't know yet what this news story signifies--and it's a marvelous thing to say "we don't know" instead of "no way."

Of course, there's always that cold touch of fear--say these really are intelligent beings cruising for a landing place. Would we be significant to them, or just the equivalent of a pesky ant colony? I like to go with the theory that any civilization advanced enough to be able to travel light-years to our little outpost might also have advanced qualities of compassion . Maybe they've found and want to return the kind invitation we sent "from the children of Planet Earth" a long, long time ago, a message in a bottle that says, "We're here."

I don't think I can wring out this story further, even though I have enough X-files JPEGs to do a month's worth of blogging. I leave you with the pithy comments of Roswell, New Mexico's mayor, Sam LaGrone. The Chicago Trib reports that Mayor Sam LaGrone of Roswell, N.M., "thinks the saucer-shaped craft at O'Hare must have taken a wrong turn. "

"I'm hoping they were on their way to Roswell to help us celebrate our biggest UFO festival to date," Mayor Sam LaGrone said of the event scheduled for July 5 through 8, and added that, "'Even if the gates at O'Hare were full, we have plenty of landing space here in Roswell and we welcome any alien visitors to drop in and celebrate the 60th anniversary with us."

Party on, and, whatever you do, don't forget the camera!