Do UFOs Exist?

— Today we have History, gentlemen!

The professor was talking very seriously, we all knew it, of course he was the history professor. What was he going to give us? We did not understand very well why he had told us that.

The whole class was surprised, we looked at each other, until one of the classmates, possibly the one who had less patience than the others, could not wait any longer, said:

— Sir, we already knew that.

— Yes, I know — he replied —. But what I am sure you do not know is the topic we are going to deal with — said the professor, putting a big smile on his face.

He had our full attention, it was the first day of class, and that it started that way, we all found it very strange, so we were quiet to see where it came from. What would he want to tell us?

— Have you ever heard of Charlemagne? — he asked very seriously.

— No! — was the general reply.

— Well, I’m sure he was the brother of Alexander the Great, and that Magno was his last name — said one of the companions.

— No! — said the professor —. They did not get to know each other.

— Well, at least they would be cousins — said another of the companions.

— I doubt that, but let’s continue with what we were. Charlemagne, who was the king of the Franks and the Lombards, was crowned Emperor Augustus by Pope Leon III in the year 800 in Rome. He was the son of Pipino el Breve, and fought against the Muslims in his advance through the Iberian Peninsula, until he was defeated at Roncesvalles.

He told us his story, how good it was! It was interesting, but we got tired of it because it was getting longer, and we were beginning to hear some whispers in class.

— What a problem! — was suddenly heard from the back of the class.

The professor, that old man, taking off his glasses, leaving them very calmly on the table, got up and said:

— Do you think that’s a problem? And if I tell you something…

— Yes, but don’t let it be another problem — he heard himself being told, interrupting again.

He was very thoughtful, in silence, so he was that way a few moments. We thought he was angry, and he was planning something to punish us.

It was the first day of class, and it seems that we had started off on the wrong foot, but what would not be our astonishment, when he returned to speak he asked us:

— Who knows what a UFO is? — And he fell silent again.

We all look at each other for a moment and then we laugh.

— Why are you laughing? Did I say something funny? — asked the professor.

— A UFO? That doesn’t exist! — jumped one from one of the last rows, those who sit there because they want to interrupt, without anyone knowing who it is.

— What happens? Haven’t you seen them? That’s why he makes that statement — Don Carlos replied.

The whole class was very quiet, we were expectant.

— Has anyone seen them? — he asked suddenly.

— No! — was everyone’s answer.

— Then why do they say they don’t exist? They can only say that they haven’t seen them. Come on! I say, that it would be their correct answer.

We laughed, we thought he must be joking, but the very serious one kept saying:

— Have any of you been to Egypt and seen the pyramids?

We all naturally answered “no”. What a question he was asking us.

— Then they don’t exist? — he was asking us very seriously.

— Of course them exist! — most of us who were there told him —. There are a lot of photographs of them in many books. How can they not exist? Is it that you have not seen them? — we asked puzzled.

We did not fully understand what he wanted to tell us.

— Yes, but even if there are those photos that you say, we have not seen them, because you have told me that you have not been there. That is true, right? — he asked us again, but before we answered, he continued —. Look! If I ask you if you have seen our beautiful Cathedral, you will all tell me “of course!” How can you not see it?

So, as you have seen that it exists, there is no doubt about it, but if I ask you if the Chinese have seen it, surely your answer is no, or at least most of them. Some of them may have been sightseeing and have seen it. Then, for those who have not come, our Cathedral does not exist, because they have not seen it, as it surely happens to you with your Great Wall, that it is possible that some have never even heard of it. Look! All this problem, as you say, I have released it, so that you understand that, although one does not know or have not seen a thing, it does not mean that it does not exist, of course our Cathedral, the Chinese Wall and the Pyramids exist.

— What about UFOs? Do they exist too? — a classmate asked from the back of the class, laughing.

— Gentlemen, I have not seen them, so I do not know if they exist or not, but Charlemagne does say that they exist, because he tells us the story that he saw them.

His words shocked us, that could not be true! But the teacher continued to tell us that the existence of whatever that is, because it is not very clear, it has been trying to be demonstrated for a very long time and although there is evidence of their existence, it has never been admitted because there have been more detractors on the issue, and that when someone claims to have seen them, the opinions are more powerful than those who say that they do not exist.

We were all very quiet, and he, hearing the bell that indicated that the class had come to an end, said to us:

— Gentlemen, this is the work that you will have to present me at the end of the course: is there life elsewhere apart from Earth?

Look, I have had different classes in all my student years, but it has never been any like that.

The professor left, and we all, we all stayed there debating the theme. It seems that it had captured our full attention because it was the most interesting course of the whole course of studies.

We made study teams, some in favor of the existence of these alien beings, and others to look for evidence of the contrary.

When we had free time, one of the small groups could be seen through the corridors or sitting on the campus lawn, debating something we had found, and it was also a topic that was spread through the university and many students from other courses joined us in that study, which every time we progressed, it became more exciting.

A few days before having the first holidays, we had so much accumulated material that we wanted to share it with the teacher and we asked him to give a class just to talk about it.

He did not want, he said, no, that it was an end-of-course project, and that we should continue with him. That initially left us a little disappointed. We wanted to know what the other groups had, and at the same time we needed to communicate what we had discovered, but Don Carlos was blunt:

— No! Let´s not anticipate events, everything in due course.

And as much as we insisted, he did not give in and we had to put up with it, but of course, the teachers, you know, are the smartest, that’s why they are teachers.

That refusal made us even more interested in the theme, and we no longer did it only as a class assignment, but rather that some of us were so interested that our involvement has lasted us all our lives.