S E T I

Dear You,

Somewhere in the West there may still be standing an array of curved metal devices, all pointed at the sky, and each programmed to "listen" to whatever electronic signals may come to the Earth. Scientists set them up in a Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, or SETI. The idea is that we are not alone in this universe. Perhaps we are not. We don't yet know.

I thought of those "dishes" today when I noticed that one of my blog posts had attracted a comment. It came in from across the Atlantic Ocean, farther from my home than I have ever travelled, so I guess it qualifies as "extra terrestrial" to me.

Perhaps when I began writing these snippets of prose, these reactions to the daily flow of my life, I wondered if anyone would ever see them. Now someone has, and I perceive them as little satellite dishes, aimed outward and listening for reactions. Over my lifetime I have sometimes wondered how solitary is an individual -- no one's trajectory through time and space is like anyone else's; we begin somewhere and we end somewhere else . . . a bit of matter whizzing through existence. Sometimes we have company during our journey, and sometimes we explore on our own.

When I spotted that return message, I was filled with a sense of companionship. It's good that we aren't alone.