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Perspective: Of UFOs and human vanity

Pixabay

Over four decades ago a flying saucer appeared over the skies of my little hometown of Mart, Texas. I was no longer living in Mart then, but I saw the photos. And they looked pretty authentic to me.

But the mayor of Mart, a humble, modest, wise man, said to the local papers, "it couldn't have been much, or it would have never come to Mart."

Well, let's consider today's UFOs. People are seeing them all the time. The Earth in fact occupies .0003 percent of the mass of the solar system, which is but a tiny sliver of the entire universe. Maybe in fact when we get excited about UFOs, we ought to take a note from the mayor of my little hometown. They can't be much, or they would have never come to Earth.

Tom McBride is co-author of the annual Beloit College Mindset List. He is a specialist in Shakespeare. For 42 years he taught at Beloit, where he won an award for excellence in teaching. He also coordinated the Mackey Distinguished Writers' Program and the First Year Initiatives Program.