Most of the time I tend to believe its unlikely we're alone in the universe. After all, what are the odds that in all of the universe this one, little, planet would be the only one to have the creatures and the forms of life that Earth has? Many people believe as I do, and most of us tend to think that the main reason we haven't encountered other living beings from other planets is a matter of none ouf us, here in the Universe, having an easy way to travel far enough fast enough.

Once in a while, though, in my more pensive moments I may consider the possibility that we are actually alone - completely alone. Suppose, for example, that for some reason Earth just happened to be the first planet to develop the conditions suitable for life. Earth may actually be a leader among planets.

Suppose, too, that there was the vast Universe, with all its goings-on, but with all that was going on in that vast, mysterious, and amazing universe there was no love or laughter or petunias in window-boxes or little red squirrels that ran across fences and made other living creatures smile to watch them. Suppose the sun was lonely because it had nobody to cheer up or warm. Suppose the moon wished someone could appreciate its light in the middle of cold Winter night. Suppose someone or something looked down on this little planet, Earth, which is just the right distance from the sun and the moon and imagined how nice it would be to have just one planet in this great Universe that was blue with raging oceans and green with plants capable of nourishing life. Suppose someone somewhere imagined a living, growing, warm, planet from which music and laughter and that wonderful cry of feisty, newborn, humans would be sent out into the universe from a place that didn't just exist but that was alive.

Are we alone in the Universe? One way or another, I can't help but suspect that we are not completely alone.