Editorial

Reports of strange lights over the northeastern USA have garnered much attention lately. These “UFOs” have sparked fear in many witnesses. What are they? Why are they there? Are they hostile in intent? For perspective, we should look at past UFO sightings.

The first time it happened was several years ago. I wasn’t sure what to think. It was just over an hour after the winter sunset. Looking out my kitchen window, I saw this bright light in the sky above Asphalt Ridge. It was just hanging there. Hovering in place. Not moving up or down, left or right, just there.

Dear Editor:

In real time, behind the wheel, I caught the Gospel reading from Jimmy Carter’s funeral. The first part of it, pasted below, is moving enough that it is one of the few things I have memorized. It struck me with all of its force at the time, thinking about that good man’s life. And in this time of stress, when all sorts of norms of kindness and mercy seem to be waning, it comes back to me with renewed meaning. You don’t have to be religious to read this and feel, “Yeah, that’s the way people should think and be”. I know Buddhists who would not disagree, and atheists that at the very least, WISH that all of these “blessed”s were true.

The Los Angeles-area fires are a worst-case scenario caused by powerful winds that struck after months without rain.