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12 Imagine that Extraterrestrials, having observed events on Earth, have decided to establish contact with the Earthlings. Using their advanced technology to communicate, they call upon the nations' leaders to cease and desist from wars and oppression, to end human bondage and uphold human freedom. But the messages are treated as a prank, for political lead- ers and scholarly savants know that UFOs are a joke, and if there be intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, it is light- years away from Earth. So the Extraterrestrials resort to "mir- acles," stepping up their impact on Earth and its inhabitants in ever-increasing marvels, until they resort to the ultimate show of force: stopping the Earth's rotation—where there was daylight on Earth the Sun did not set, where there was nighttime the Sun did not rise. Thus concentrating the minds of the Earthlings and _ their leaders, the Extraterrestrials decide it is time to make them- selves visible. A huge disklike spacecraft appears in Earth's skies; engulfed in a brilliance, it floats down upon beams of light. Its destination is the Earth's most powerful capital. There it lands in sight of stunned multitudes. An opening silently unrolls, letting out a shining light. A huge, giant robot steps out, moves forward and freezes. As the people fall to their knees with fear of the unknown, a humanlike figure appears—the actual Extraterrestrial. "I bring you peace," he says. In truth, the above scenario need not be imagined, for it is the gist of the 1952 movie The Day The Earth Stood Still, 284 to you THE GREATEST THEOPHANY