I've always preferred to delve into widely diverse issues and subjects that catch my attention.
That includes the occasional column about mysteries behind the appearances of many unidentified flying objects seen and photographed above our cities, military bases and even by astronauts in space. That's because I've had firsthand experience.
Readers may recall an earlier column about how, as a child during the late 1950s while living at Fort Chaffee, my younger brother and I watched in awe one evening as a large, pulsing orb hovered for over us for several seconds. The glowing sphere ever so slowly began moving before flashing over the horizon.
While I know without question what we witnessed that summer's evening, we told only our parents, believing others would tease us.
It's always been much easier--and far more fun--for most fellow journalists who haven't experienced such a sight to dismiss the widespread phenomenon as the result of overactive imagination. The sightings have been blithely explained away by those who weren't there as everything from swamp gas to reflected car headlights.
But when it comes to possible explanations, things are about to get real this summer, if federal plans aren't derailed by the Biden administration and ineffective inter-agency cooperation.
What I believe is the greatest, yet frequently ignored, news story and mystery in human history is to be addressed in the detailed report on UFOs in the wake of photographs of inexplicable, physics-defying craft recently documented by U.S. fighter pilots.
From reported UFO encounters in Roswell and Phoenix to our own Devil's Den State Park near Fayetteville, it's long past time for the planet's human race to gain meaningful insight into these glowing craft so many have witnessed.
Perhaps those who believe their eyes over those who deny their experience finally will learn the documented truths while I suspect have the last laugh at those who've spent years accusing them of being misguided or hysterical.
A wire-service account about the report, originally set to be released to Congress and the public on June 1, appeared the last month in this newspaper and on some cable news channels. Those in this business who chose not to share that news story are likely to regret another poor decision.
This pending report was made possible by the Trump administration through last year's $2.3 trillion appropriations bill. There appears to be a fly in that soup, however. I've read some military and spy agencies already are trying to block, or ignore, efforts to catalog the information they have collected.
In other words, more of the same ol' lack of government transparency that has surrounded this issue and so many others over the years.
Recent news stories about the report's release referred to UFOs as "advanced aerial threats" and "anomalous aerial vehicles."
The long-awaited report supposedly will detail everything the government knows about UFOs and how they operate far beyond the capacity of our technology.
F0rmer Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said the findings must be made public, and that, "Frankly, there are a lot more sightings than have been made public."
I'm thankful I'm still alive to see these revelations unfolding.
Widespread attention last year was refocused on the UFO phenomenon after the Pentagon released grainy videos of unidentified flying objects captured by U.S. Navy infrared cameras that "only scratches the surface of research and materials available," according to former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.
Sen Marco Rubio, a leading member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told a news commentator last month: "We have things flying over military installations over military exercises and other places. And we don't know what it is. It isn't ours. It isn't anything that's registered with the FAA, and in many cases, exhibits attributes of things we've never seen, technology, the kinds of technology we haven't seen before. ... I think you have to know what it is, or we have to try to know what it is. ...
"The problem with this issue," Rubio said, "is every time you raise it, people get all nervous. Oh, does this mean UFOs and aliens and extraterrestrials? We don't have to go so far. It's very simple. There are things flying over national security installations. We don't know who they are. I don't know what it is; it isn't ours, we need to find out."
Even Reid (among my least favorite lawmakers) was quoted saying, "The U.S. needs to take a serious, scientific look at this and any potential national security implications. The American people deserve to be informed."
Good idea, Harry, considering all our elected officials exist solely to serve us rather than the other way around.
Believe I'll venture out onto a limb and say that when the facts are revealed and truth is known, these visitors who routinely defy the known laws of physics in our limited three-dimensional world are inter-dimensional beings at play amid the complex vibrational energies of the universe, rather than interstellar travelers.
At any rate, adjust your personal vibrational frequency and stay tuned.
Gwen's GodNod
"The thought of an angel watching over me has comforted me from the time I was a small child," writes Gwen Fullen. "There was a picture in my Sunday School classroom in McRae of a beautiful angel guarding two small children crossing a broken bridge above a roaring stream. The picture stayed with me.
"One Sunday afternoon many years ago when my sons were about 8 and 10, we were returning to our home in Hot Springs from a family weekend on Lake Hamilton. The boys were tired and we were in the 1962 Ford pickup without seat belts that I recall. I drove across Jack Mountain that afternoon, a lesser-traveled way to Arkadelphia from Hot Springs.
"I took that road frequently and was familiar with hills and sharp turns, but that day there was suddenly a sign that said 'loose gravel.' We were approaching a curve and hill. I felt the truck slide to the left. We fishtailed and crossed again to the right. I could see a steep ditch, a hill up to my right, and an oncoming bridge rail over a steep drop into a creek.
"The truck slid toward the embankment on the right. I reached out with my right arm to brace the boys. I visualized all of us going through the windshield. The truck headed into the steep incline to the creek. Next thing I knew, the truck was up on the shoulder right before the bridge railing. My foot was on the accelerator. I don't remember steering the truck or braking. Still, I had a feeling of calm and thankfulness. My boys were quiet and still.
"I drive that road often. I always say a whispered thank you to the angel who must have guided my truck that day. In my heart, that angel guards me and my family to this day."
Parsons on FOIA
This from Jim Parsons of Bella Vista, the fearless champion of transparency and perpetual thorn in the side of the Bella Vista Property Owners Association: "Thank you for your editorial in support of FOIA. I know that media personnel and attorneys probably rely on FOIA more than most of us, but as a political activist, watchdog and sometimes gadfly, I have probably invested more money in FOI-related lawsuits and supporting FOIA than any private citizen in Arkansas. FOIA is the most effective tool a common citizen like me has to get to the truth."
So true, Jim. Stay the course.
Now go out into the world and treat everyone you meet exactly like you want them to treat you.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at [email protected].