As extreme a comparison and analogy as it might at first seem to many, the following little story may, nevertheless, help us in coming to understand exactly what the unknown and ultimate motivation and purpose behind this planet's long-standing alien presence (notice I did not necessarily say,...nor mean,... extraterrestrial) might actually be. The following is an occurrence that was recently reported involving a colony of gorillas and their response to some Christian missionaries who had set up camp near their gorilla compound and colony.

Reliable witnesses say the gorillas were seen, immediately after discovering the missionary encampment, gathered in a clearing, scratching their hairy heads in gorilla-like consternation over the unseen and sudden arrival, as well as the furtive and mysterious monkeying around of these invading (from the gorilla perspective, anyway) missionaries. From that moment on, after the initial sighting, the news spread faster than an ant invasion all throughout the jungle, escalating to the point to where by evening , "The Gorilla Guardian And Morning Telegraph, a daily publication of Ape-World Network Media had referred to the missionary camp as a," base camp" which only served to ratchet-up an already heightened (at least in the mind's and imagination's of gorillas everywhere) situation. Up until this official confirmation by The Guardian, an otherwise conservative paper,..." for sensible gorillas,"... as their advertising often stated, many had simply denied---- when previous such reports of alien sightings came in, as they occasionally would---- even the existence, or for that matter, even the possibility, of any such being as a "Missionary."

And as if that alone were not enough to raise apish-eyebrows, fur-raising suspicions, and anthropological concerns in its own right, one large, gray gorilla was heard to express the sentiments of many when he asked a young, wiry, almost chimp looking reporter, " Pray, tell me!! --- what kind of virus-laden, King-Kong-seeking, experimental misery, and untold mischief and aggression do these white-coated, fur-less, hatchet-faced aliens intend to do, now that they are here? Maybe enslave us under total alien domination, putting one of those starched-looking stiff white collars around all of our necks so we will look more like them--- except ours will really be a collar lock, painted white just so we will blend a bit more? And don't you kid yourself either, it will have a heavy, thick chain waiting to be attached should any gorilla suddenly feel "apey" or anything!"

After the headlines in The Guardian had hit the jungle paths, the whole jungle seemed to beat like a drum with wave after wave of reports of other-worldly activities, sightings, and landings of "missionaries" taking place, seemingly everywhere. The most serious report received by, and deliberated over, in absolute secrecy as a matter of national gorilla defense, by the Supreme Grand Council of Gorillas, concerned one special report, well documented with surveillance photos of the camp itself, and even more importantly perhaps, the disturbing presence of some strange device, assumed to be an unknown weapon of unknown destructive capabilities. The report stated, and the photos corroborated, that the strange artifice, or device as some called it, was obviously of great and monumental importance to the alien missionairies , as well as seeming to possess some form of intelligence, or so at least two older gorillas thought, and had asserted. These two were considered the only experienced scientifically knowledgeable gorillas available or qualified to be advisers, since both had once been held in captivity by similar looking aliens at an experimental scientific facility near the edge of the jungle, before their eventual escape; therefore, obviously they were the only gorillas qualified to make such an assertion.

In their official report they had both stated that the object, or more precisely perhaps, the weapon of possible mega-gorilla destructive capabilities, was of such monumental importance to the secret plans of the aliens that the aliens clearly were all under the strictest of orders to bow and almost completely kneel in some unknown alien ceremony of subjugation and appreciation of its force and power, each time they even so much as walked in front of its shape. The unknown weapon was described as being simply two gold, or gold-like metal bars, one, shorter, flat-like bar crossed over in perpendicularity to the other, longer flat-like bar, ultimately forming a cross. The two expert gorillas were heard to say that it " in their expert scientific opinion this cross-like weapon of mega-ape destructive potential and proportion could surely and certainly be somehow launched and fired directly from the place where it now rested, which was in the exact center of a table-like portable launch platform that was covered with a red-velvet, gold embroidered cloth. It was their assertion that should this cross-looking apparatus be unleashed and fired that it would certainly result in the total annihilation of every gorilla and ape on the planet. It would mean the end of anthropoid existence---at least as they knew it.

After that, it seemed as if random reports and sightings started coming in from everywhere. One such report from what was later termed, " credible ape sources" a dubious phrase at best, claimed that they had seen placed on the launch table beside "the golden crossed rocket," as the gorilla/ape press started calling it thereafter, of what was obviously some sort of ominous black-covered Master Operations Manual which invariably contained instructions for not only firing the cross-rocket itself, but also perhaps the ultimate fate of the gorilla civilization everywhere. A copy of this black book, which every alien seem to carry a smaller version of, had been procured by a gorilla who was an GBI agent (Gorilla Bureau of Investigation) and experts had determined that there were two untranslatable (at least so into official and understandable gorilla grunts) alien grunt-representations stamped in gold on the books cover. Reputable gorilla witnesses, close to the source, said the aliens called such markings , "words." One extremely black coated gorilla spoke out with seeming authority on the subject,"These hieroglyphic-like alien configurations, look as follows;" he then held up a representative copy and drawing of the strange markings for all present to see: H-O-L-Y B-I-B-L-E. However,the manual investigation came to a halt since no one could further make any reasonable translation of the inner content which was literally covered in millions of pieces of alien hieroglyphics.

In a written, national response the Grand Council of Gorillas and Great Apes finally released an ominous and somewhat discouraging statement of concern portending of "the greatest threat yet to face, not only those gorillas and apes closest to these horrific events and scene of invasion, but possibly gorillas and apes everywhere since gorilla technology, as modern and advanced as all gorillas proudly knew it to be, still nothing could defend against these hatchet faced, fur-less beings and their golden-crossed rockets of mega-gorilla destructive capabilities."

Their official report, along with its concluding remarks , ominously suggested either an all out jungle evacuation, or total and complete surrender to prevent further destruction and suffering. Certainly, they had stated, "the further possibility of an even greater threat and danger continues to grow". That evening gorillas and apes everywhere heard one lone reporter of the Associated Gorilla News slowly read, at the closing of his newscast, the last portentous sentence of the Grand Council's announcement, which offered no recourse or rescue, nor any hope or reassurance, but only stated the following as the obvious destiny, destitution and destruction of the known world of gorillas and apes:

"Surely, only death, destruction, and the absolute end of all civilized gorilla and ape civilization waits in the offering of the future at the merciless and wanton hands of these white collared, hatchet-faced, fur less, and unknown aliens, who are, it can only be concluded, the other-worldly grim reapers and ultimate destroyers of all that once stood for the decency, morality, industry, progress, and technological advancements of great and noble gorillas and apes everywhere. We will be missed,...Of this I am sure.""

Now, as facetious, and as I am sure some will want to add, "ridiculous," as that little aside-scenario might appear, or actually be, it does, nevertheless, make several very valid (and as my sources also would assert and add, "absolutely correct") important points of relevance when considering the tendency we humans have of likewise blowing things out of proportion, not the least of which is in the way and manner (usually with added dramatics) most humans tend to address and speculate on and about the whole question of the alien motivation behind their earthly arrival, in addition to suggesting what their long-term plans might consist of for the future.

I think we humans make a serious mistake of excessive, even egregious, disproportionate response and reaction to, what most intelligent and educated people would now agree is, a proven fact that alien beings, of whatever unknown origin, are, in fact, present in our atmosphere, and certainly by all other indications, have possibly landed and interacted with humans, if only sporadically and occasionally, as well as have established, in all likelihood, some sort of base in some unknown way and manner, at some unknown specific locations on the planet. Usually, most people tend to either fear the acceptance of this alien presence, or at the very least, have serious doubts about the ultimate, ulterior motives these beings might have, regarding, specifically, human beings in general, as well as any future long-term prospects or plans involving human civilization in the future. Most people would have a tendency to respond and view anything to do with these aliens much in the same way the gorillas did in my little story above.

The point of my little jungle tale was to demonstrate that human beings make an egregious miscalculation of interstellar proportion when they arbitrarily assume and erroneously conclude that aliens and/or extraterrestrials would in any way think and reason, and as a consequence, act and re-act in the same way and manner as humans would. Such parallel thinking is not only highly unlikely, but also a near impossibility, based on and because of some very good sociological, psychological, and possibly even, spiritual reasons as well.

As the Christian New Testament so aptly and wisely observes and concludes considering such parallel thinking:

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." (1Cor.13:11)

Obviously, like aliens, or anyone else from a different age group, culture, or milieu, no one group thinks, reasons, and acts, nor as a direct consequence, re-acts in exactly the same way as others. Ever how different these alien beings might be, or might not be, from humans, still their experiences of reality, which is, whether that experience comes in the form of formal education and training, or in the form of one-on-one encounters with the struggles, highs and lows, of just living and surviving the experience of reality and survival, are by definition and occurrence entirely different from ours; therefore, their conclusions, perceptions, and assessments of everything from morality to immorality, right and wrong, what constitutes happiness and what does not, to even more extreme interpretations about the nature of God, or even if there is such a thing as God, have to be totally different from ours. Understanding this we can only conclude that their ideas and assessments of everything else would by necessity be different than ours.

Clearly, all of this shows that no progress or understanding can be had or derived by superimposing human mind-sets, opinions, and motivations upon alien minds; however, there is a very obvious and simple method which can be quite productive, and most likely, correct in assessing, or at the very least, speculating, possibly even somewhat accurately, about the ultimate aims and intentions of this alien presence that is so prevalent --- and seemingly becoming more so : and that is by observation of their past behavior since they first arrived on this planet.

Of course, those claims by specific individuals of alien manipulation and exploitation notwithstanding, and regardless of the truth, accuracy, or validation of such claims, while at one and the same time not doubting the sincerity and veracity of these individual claimants, we human beings, as a collective planetary whole, have to take a wider and broader view if we are to arrive at any wise, or at least, congruent and accurate assessment as to what the ultimate and ulterior alien intents might be. As a whole civilization looking at this alien question objectively in order to come to any sort of determination of the probable, ultimate aims and ambitions of such an obvious alien presence, we would be almost forced to conclude, based only on the observable and collective evidence of the actual historical activity of these ostensible aliens --- since the evidence also suggests this alien presence has been here for perhaps as much, or longer than, a quarter of a million years, that their (the aliens) designs and plans, concerning not only us as a species, but also the physical planet as well,... are non-aggressive, non-threatening,... and benign. Of course, I also understand that, in considering all of this, there are those who might rightly also want to ask and add, if as nothing more than just a lingering after thought and question: "Well, why are they then here? Is it not also true that whether we are talking about people, aliens, chipmunks, or mugwumps, nobody does something without there being a reason and rationale" And in conclusion to that, one can only reply,... "Good point!"