OUMUAMUA

 Oumuamua. The sound, the music of the Hawaiian language, a reminder of my favorite place on earth. Where the very air caresses one's skin. Where "hang loose" is the mode and mood of the day. Where no one blasts horns in the infamous traffic jams out of the airport into Waikiki and Honolulu. Where the beauty of nature contrasts with the ugliness of humanity as one visits Pearl Harbor, the Punchbowl Cemetery, and the Arizona, leaking oil lo these many a years, a reminder of the leaking blood we humans have spilled in war and enmity.

But what is Oumuamua? It is a massive piece of whatever, at that time, 2017, careening through space, coming close to Earth, very unusual in its size and what the heck was it? Aha! It was declared a piece of another star system, a piece, a massive chunk, of a Pluto like planet that had broken up. Broken up? Another star system? Think of it. Think of the implications.

We are not alone - maybe? What could life have been on that former intact planet? What caused it to disintegrate? Was it a violent, lifeform caused tragedy or simply something out of Nature. It was named 'scout' or messenger", perhaps as a warning to us. What message is it bringing? What does it tell us? What does it mean for the future?

A chunk of a planet, a huge Pluto like planet. It imploded or exploded or shades of Star Trek, was blown up? What is out there, waiting for us - or will it not wait and come looking? Think of the possibilities of space exploration, for we now know there are other star systems, other planets, other histories and human curiosity will not allow this to go by unexplored, and yes, unexploited. Will we pollute that new star system? Will we send it our space junk? How and will we get along with other lifeforms if we cannot even get along with ourselves?

Oumuamua was indeed aptly named. Is it a messenger from a Supreme Power out there telling us, warning us, showing us, that all things are within reach of permanent tragedy? Will we learn to temper our hubris, take ourselves down a peg, perhaps even learn to talk with, not at, each other and more important, to hear and listen, heed the words of others as they will do the same for us?

Should we take this as an interstellar warning in the category of a huge Ozymandias? Will we even think about that possibility, be a different kind of messenger to others? Not the rampaging hordes that hit the Americas, but the Star Trek ones who emulate Captain Kirk, Spock, the dignified Captain Picard, and all the other characters. Can you just see Bones out there, all excited at the new technology for medicine? Or will space exploration merely bring us more tragedy, a wider arena for it, a new dumping place for space junk and the damaging and destructive traits of humanity? Will we hear and heed the messenger Oumuamua or will we ignore it?

 Fascinating, don't you think? How and what shall we make it so?