Where are the Aliens When You Need Them?

 "I suppose we have to believe the arc of history bends towards justice but it certainly takes some incredible hairpin detours."

- Marina Hyde, November 4, 2020 (The Guardian)

At Rob's request, we watched a documentary on UFO sightings and alien encounters a few days ago. I was incredulous at first, but the evidence for alien vehicles and even alien "persons" mounted to such an extent that I had to suspend my disbelief. The climax of the documentary was footage of the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, where a large group of students saw a landed UFO in 1994. Not only did they see a vehicle, but they reported communicating with a strange being. These beings told the students that humans were on the wrong path, that technology was dangerous and that we needed to protect the earth. Then they left.

Bear with me here. In the show, numerous experts made the case that more advanced forms of life had visited our planet many times with the intent of highlighting how foolish and dangerous our nuclear weapons stock was to life, as well as letting us know that we are "on the wrong path." For some reason, that's all I could think of as election results trickled in over the last two days and I watched the divide in our country grow deeper and more treacherous.  Where are these advanced life forms now? We are apparently in grave danger as a country and as a planet, wouldn't this be a good time for them to make a pit-stop in a battleground state? They could give us a gentle shove, or violent push, in the right direction.

This idea didn't ring any bells with the checkers at Trader Joe's yesterday, as we mused collectively about the nerve-wracking vote counts. Of course I could only see their eyes over the masks, but there were no sympathetic smile lines or warm chuckles when I finished my (semi-joking) explanation about how the aliens should come save us. They just scanned my cart for alcohol, gave a sigh of relief that the plastic partition separated us, and got me checked out as fast as they could.

I guess we're on our own here, and though the voting and vote-checking process has gone more smoothly than I anticipated, my nerves are shot from watching the endless parade of states that are "too close to call."  Marina Hyde of The Guardian mentioned, in the same article referenced above, that Trump had more support in 2020 than he did in 2016 - in counties with the highest number of COVID fatalities. What to make of that?

I can't predict anything in 2020 and it seems that the experts can't, either. In a world where hairpin turns are the norm and unseen dangers lurk behind every flip of the calendar, it seems apropos that we ask for help from aliens. If I just replace my election yard signs with advertisements to use the lawn as a landing strip, we could either get the scoop on how to fix things, or just leave with the little people when they go.