The question, “Do you believe in aliens?” is one way to fill a long pause in a conversation. Although, I might suggest that inquiry be at a party and not at a job interview. 

Recently, the Pentagon released three videos of unidentified flying objects, popularly referred to as UFOs. This piece of news ignited debates across the internet as to what the Navy pilots did or did not see. 

While I hold some skepticism myself of whether aliens exist, it seems that I lean more on the side of belief. I choose to believe for one reason: It is more fun that way. We all should choose to believe in aliens, if only for the excitement and wonder of it. 

To provide some context to my conclusion, I am currently on a month-and-a-half of sheltering in place. This means that I have had ample time to binge-watch Invader Zim on Hulu and voraciously consume Joe Rogan podcasts. This makes a perfect storm for alien and UFO conspiracies. 

As I mentioned, I am a skeptic. However, I must admit that I donned a tinfoil hat during my family’s road trip stop in Roswell, New Mexico. But the more I seriously consider life on other planets, the more fascinating the idea becomes. 

Without a doubt, a potential visit from aliens raises a plethora of great philosophical questions. At the very least, they make for a unique exercise for the mind. For instance, are there aliens trying to contact us right now? What is on our planet that they are interested in? What do they look like?

At the moment, any answers to these questions are merely speculation. The good news is that our knowledge of life, earth and the entire universe is expanding every day. We have a choice to meet this expansion with optimism and curiosity or incredulity and doubt.

Evidence shows that as we age, our imaginations tend to decline. It seems to make sense that trying to wrap our brains around extraterrestrial life is one way to spark that imagination inside all of us. Can we exercise our imaginations to think about aliens? Or are some of us too stuck in our ways to give this topic some credence? 

In our world, humans have positioned themselves as the highest in the animal kingdom. It is easy to limit our thinking to believe that there is nothing higher than us, as this has been the case since the evolution of man. However, this way of thinking is a disservice. 

Without the innate curiosity of scientists, we would be left without many of the breakthroughs that define our species. For much of human existence, traveling to the moon seemed impossible. In the same way, alien contact seems impossible — until it is not. 

It is mind-boggling to consider how much of our own planet is left undiscovered, let alone how little we know about space. It does not seem unreasonable to add aliens to the list of potential discoveries.

During our family’s stopover in Roswell, we came across a UFO watchtower — also known as a tourist trap. As we piled out of the car, a man with long hair and bibbed overalls gave us his UFO story. 

He told us that in the sky above us is an entrance to an alien vortex, and whoever visits the watchtower must leave a gift to protect the entrance. These gifts were scattered around the garden: pocket knives, lucky coins and baseball cards. My girlfriend and I both left a pair of underwear.

This experience was made all the more memorable by simply letting loose and adopting a sense of wonder. Looking up into the night sky, I often get a feeling that there might very well be aliens out there. Life is already serious enough as it is. We should not spend it disavowing those that hold their breath on declassified UFO videos. 

If we choose to go a step further and believe in extraterrestrial life, then the stakes are refreshingly low. Unless the aliens are anything like in Independence Day, that is.

Kenny is a senior in Social Work. 

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