As some MUFON members know by now, there is more to being a Field Investigator than just investigating cases that are submitted to us. We also have a duty to educate people about UFOs and the cover up that has gone along with it.
It is a fantastic learning experience to go to UFO conferences and MUFON meetings, and one of the comments I always hear afterwards is how great it was to be amongst a group of people where you can talk about UFOs and not be ridiculed. Birds of a feather do like to flock together after all! I myself agree that it is wonderful to be with a group of such enlightened people, exchanging information and telling our accounts of high strangeness. The problem is that when we do this, we are not bringing our knowledge to the people that need it the most, those who have little or no knowledge of what is going on.
In every day life all of us come into contact with people from all walks of life. I myself live in a fairly small town, and I have lived here long enough to know quite a few people on at least a first name basis, if not better. Over the course of the last year I have been presented with many opportunities to tell people about MUFON, what our mission is, and some of the information that I have learned over the years. It is not as easy to talk to people that have believed what the Air Force and other government agencies have been telling them for years, which is why knowing how to correctly answer many of the questions that you will hear repeatedly is very important.
Always keep in mind that honesty is the number one priority. If you don't know the answer to a particular question, your best reply is "I don't know". The last thing that you ever want to do when talking to someone that is new to the subject is to give them incorrect information. For one thing, you will lose any credibility with that person when they find out the correct version of events, but not only that, it also damages the credibility of an already beleaguered field.
There is no shame in not knowing the answer to a question, and you will always be remembered more for being a person who doesn't just spout dogma to look cool! Especially if you can follow up at a later date with the answer to their question. That gives the person the impression that you both listened to them, and cared enough about their interest to research it and get back to them. That is the kind of interaction with the public that is going to get us all a lot further than fantastic made up stories ever will!
Sometimes you will also run up against the problem of oversaturation. Telling a newcomer to UFOlogy too much at once can have the extreme opposite of the desired effect. You don't really want to "drop a bomb" on people, especially if they don't know you that well. I think that using a much subtler approach can have a much more lasting effect as far as sparking interest in the subject goes. The rule when doing stand-up comedy is to always leave the audience wanting more, and the same approach when speaking to people who aren't familiar with the subject of UFOs is probably just as wise. Sometimes just planting the seed of curiosity is the better option because then the person will seek the knowledge on their own. Most of us know how that ends up...the journey down the "rabbit hole" is a long one indeed!
So please, share this issue with all of your friends, but also...share what you know with strangers! Together we can make a difference. See you all next week!
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