Aliens Among Us

Автор: Milvushina
Дата: 28.06.2012 @ 20:28:24
Раздел: Произведения на чужд език


Текстът по-долу представлява проповед, която написах и прочетох пред конгрегацията на Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Provincetown. Публикувам я в оригинал, без превод, както я чу паството през есента на 2006 г.

One of the benefits of renting in the house where I lived all summer, was a TV set in my room with HBO on demand. I love browsing the movies list until I finally make my choice and I take the pains to look at the summary of everything with an intriguing title and that every time. One night my attention was caught by a curious observation and after some deliberate counting, I was fascinated to find out that one in every eight movies was about aliens. It occured to me it could be no coincidence; the topic of aliens seems to be a rather popular one. As if only to confirm my theory, the very same week Spielberg`s remake of War of the Worlds came to the movie theather in Provincetown.

I have not seen the old War of the Worlds - my parents were not even born when they made it - but a when I was in the sixth grade I watched the show on TV. It left a lasting impression on me as the aliens would steal the bodies of their victims and would masquerade as humans in society. I could not help it, I had to go see the remake this summer. When I came to the theater, first thing I noticed was a huge line and where I stepped inside, even though I had come fifteen minutes earlier, I found the theatre already packed with only the front rows partly vacant. My friend at the door assured me it was like that every night.

I cannot say it was one of the best movies I`ve seen but the success of War of the Worlds is undeniable. It is probably due to Spielberg`s fame as a brilliant director and the outstanding special effects but I also believe the roots of it are in its concept. Not many matters preoccupy people like the nature of God, but the, I think, existence of aliens must be among them.

I am sure that you have already formed an opinion on the matter but nevertheless I would like to share a personal experience with you that turned my perceptions completely upside down. Last year in October, as soon I set my foot in my home country - Bulgaria - again, I received a very disturbing phone call from a friend. Trouble was brewing in college because of some deadlined I had missed. Very upset and anxious I stormed in the dean`s office half an hour after my arrival in town, 8 o`clock in the morning. I tried to present my case but the dean`s secretary showered me with an endless litany in her high-pitched voice that did not clear my confusion but added to it instead. Hey words were in my native tongue, which I do speak quite well too, but I could not understand her. Neither did she seem to comprehend my replies at all! She looked like the average woman, with fiery red hair, alabaster skin and a pug nose; the framed picture on her desk suggested she was married with a kid. Yet, as she kept on yelling at me, I wondered if she was from another planet.

Since then I`ve reflected a lot on the definition of -human-. According to the dictionary, a -human- is -any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae-. I am not a scientist, this does not make it clearer for me. I can only presume we are in some way different from all the other species. So, what is it that really makes us human? It cannot be just genes; humans share 99 per cent of common DNA with the chimpanzees. It cannot be just appearance as there are people with black skin or white skin, blue eyes or brown eyes, short or tall. It cannot be behavior as its patterns are still a mystery even to the most enlighted scientists in the field. Being human seems to be a fine blend of all these things together, and more.

Yet, how much can a person differ from the others to be still considered human?

Very recently I read Children of the Flames, a book about Dr Mengele, the high-ranking Nazi doctor at the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Dr Mengele, nicknamed the Angel of Death, was charged with several major responsibilities in the camp. Auschwitz survivors describe him as the charismatic, sophisticated Nazi who stood at the gates and gently herded people in two directions by pointing with his hand, elegantly gloved in white. Little did the poor Jews know that the man whistling a Mozart tune and smiling so politely was sending them to the gas chambers. Those who had their lives spared could not be called more fortunate as most of them would perish soon from exhaustion, disease and malnourishment in the labor camps. However, Dr Mengele has remained in history as the one man who performed the diabolic, pseudo-scientific experiments with twins, giants and midgets. Lethal surgeries were performed without any anesthesia; large quantities of blood were daily drawn from babies` necks for testing; their eyes were often injected with chemicals that made them go blind.

This doctor, this angel of death, with his officers, was personally responsible for the execution of those horrific so-called experiments. There was a living man or a woman holding the knife that chopped the Jewish children. It is way beyond my comprehension how they could have the heart to commit such atrocities. For me the handsome man with the white gloves was simply not a human being.

While Children of the Flames relates real events, Ender`s Shadow tells a completely fictional but nevertheless a very thought-provoking story. For those of you who have read Ender`s Game, a science fiction classic by Orson Scott Card, the novel revolves around Bean, Ender`s lieutenant. By means of a genetic alternation Bean`s intelligence is enhanced to exceed a few times that of Einstein or Leonardo da Vinci. The price that the character has to pay for his gift, though, is a monsterous appearance and a diminished lifespan. At the size of an elephant, with a mind as sharp as a tack, Bean is not considered human by many of his peers. Yet, the readers of the book see an appealing young person who cares for the well-being of his family and his people, who would sacrifice himself in the name of a higher goal. Bean may be a different species but I think of him as one of the most humane characters I have ever encounter.

But let me tell you the end of my adventure in the dean`s office. Desperate, I gave my case one last try. With a trembling voice I begged the secretary for her help, explaining that I had a special someone waiting for me to finish college and a dream career that had nothing to do with my major. Then I broke down in tears.

I watched her tilt her head and nod. She had understood. She had realized that for me continuing college brought me a year closer to my dream of a real job and a family. We had started speaking the same language, the language of the framed picture on her desk. Maybe she and I were not so different after all. Maybe, after all, she did not come from another planet.

In every language there is a simple division between what is familiar and accepted and everything else. It is the word -we- as opposed to -them-. -Theirs- means it is not ours, it is someone else`s, it is different, it is alien. Legally, the latter word (aliens) is used for a good many people among us - including me - to differentiate between outsiders and insiders. It hints at a culture or lifestyle that is different from ours, right? But after all, if I look at any given person`s life, a foreigner or not, I notice that he or she would be striving for the same thing - a happy family or a good job or a safe home or a little bit of fame. It takes empathy, a mental skill that only humans are capable of, to understand others with their motives, feelings and passions. It is compassion that makes aliens become us.

It is indeed much easier to notice the differences than the similarities. Some may not look human, some may not behave human, but it is good to remember that as we judge, so others judge us. Perhaps storming into her office made the dean`s secretary believe I was coming from another planet too. Her help and mercy completely changed the way I thought of her but I believe my teary confession moved her with my honesty and completely ordinary ambition. It was hard to get through the tough shell to reach her heart but I did. This alone gives me hope for the present and the future, for myself and all the humankind. For as long as we all try and see what unites us instead of what divides us, we may find there are fewer aliens ... among us.

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