Norma Zager
The Monsters Have Come to Maple Street
September 29, 2009

They landed secretly as so many times before. Unheralded, unnoticed, save for those few whose opinion would be discarded.

The ancient landing strip managed the weight of their vehicle and allowed perfect access to a designated arrival spot. They came for the remains. One ship was sufficient. Just as predicted, man had destroyed the planet. There would be a few bets to pay off, but most had called it right.

It would be ironic if the UFOers had actually had it right all along. That some advanced planet had landed years before, colonized earth and had been watching its progress from a safe distance.

Perhaps they had banked on a civilization evolving into one more highly advanced than even their own, had even kept the hope alive that man would move passed his animal mentality. Or maybe they had waited to take over earth without having to lift a finger toward its destruction?

A few may have bet on mankind to pull it off, probably their high intelligence clearly pointed to the truth of the outcome. Anyone with half a brain could see this planet was a failed experiment at best.

Hard to call the exact moment we failed, but this past week made it impossible to ignore we had.

A United States President with a marked preference toward a nuclear Iran who will ultimately bring on the end of the world, pretty much stacks the cards against making any long-range plans.

Oh sure many people will say it is Israel’s fault. Iran just hates them, that’s all.

That would be incorrect and prove they have no institutional memory at all.

Let me point out an event from the end of the thirteenth century if I may.

The Knights Templar fought a war in Jerusalem to take back the Holy City from the Muslims.

As with the lions, the Christians lost that one pretty bad and returned home to find themselves wiped out shortly thereafter by an angry Pope.

Muslims one. Christians none.

What could have happened to give us our next hint that man was a pretty bad boy capable of all sorts of evil?

Well, there is the obvious “boys will be boys evil” on a daily basis like the Spanish Inquisition, world wars, gang fights in Los Angeles, and lest we forget that guy Adolph who raised evil to new levels. Of course there are those pesky Moms who opted for strapping bombs to their kids’ diapers and sending them off to die as martyrs in lieu of nursery school. That is an impressive climb on the heights of evil.

Man never disappoints. Just when you think it is safe to go back into the water, there’s that old shark again. Swimming along the sand in the desert? Sounds like another sequel to Jaws in the making.

Forty-five years ago there was an incident in Kew Gardens, Queens, that literally forecast the future of mankind. Pretty much ignored for its far-reaching universal implications, the details of Kitty Genovese were bandied about conversations in every corner of the USA.

An entire neighborhood watched as she was murdered on the streets below.

Oh those New Yorkers. They are a hoot. You can always count on them to be aloof and arrogant. Part of their charm I guess.

That was no incident that was our future.

The United Nations will stand by and allow Iran to get a bomb. They stood by and let North Korea. Fair’s fair after all. The bigger the boys the bigger their toys, etc.

The President of the United States has an agenda. One that he and Joe Biden are anxious to implement before they get caught and stopped.

Too late. Oh well, nice knowing ya, Mickey Mouse.

Man has never been anxious to get involved in other men’s problems. He is by nature a self- serving narcissist. Hence the saying, “no good deed goes unpunished.”

During the fifties when people were busily building bomb shelters in their yards there were constant discussions about the weaponry they would use to keep their neighbors out. Most of these shelters were built in secret to prevent anyone knowing of their existence at all.

Surprise, surprise, no shelters will help when the bombs begin flying in earnest.

Ha! The joke is on us. We spend our lives worrying about trivialities like who will win American Idol, Simon Cowell’s salary and what kind of designer bag the first lady is carrying when the real issue is how much longer until our bad behavior destroys us.

Rod Serling had a story on Twilight Zone during the Red Scare entitled The Monsters are Due on Maple Street. It followed a seemingly innocent blackout on a typical American street. The entire neighborhood is turned against one another due to their own prejudice and paranoia.

At the end of the episode two spacemen sat at the controls of their ship after manipulating the power. They comment on how easy it had been to incite hatred and conclude the easiest way to conquer the Earth is to let the people destroy themselves, one “Maple Street” at a time. I guess we’re running pretty low on Maple Streets these days.

I’m certain Rod will be up there laughing when they finally land to collect what’s left. He sure called that one right! But of course die- hard Twilight Zone fans knew that all along.