see," said one of the scientists, with a touch of scorn.
"Believe it because of its effects--the results--the
evidence of its existence," the traveler said. "If it weren't
there, you would see no pictures."
"We know you're lying," another engineer said. "Even if there
were a device in the sky, held up by a balloon or whatever, it
couldn't send a signal down here without a wire. That would be
against everything we know about electricity. And I don't see
any wire."
"Well, it doesn't use a wire," said the traveler. "The
signals are sent through the air. And the satellite isn't
held up by a balloon; it stays up because it's high enough
so that gravity doesn't pull it down."
"Now he's denying the law of gravity again," said one of the
scientists. "Let's go. I've heard enough. Whatever he does to
perform his little trick, he isn't telling us about it, so let's
just leave."
"Yeah, let's get out of here," another scientist said. "Every
time we catch him in an impossibility, he tells us the explanation
is in the sky." Then turning to the traveler to say goodbye, he
added, "We cannot believe something when the weight of scientific
evidence is against it."
"But when the physical evidence is clearly before you," said
the traveler, "how can you not believe, even if your theories cannot
explain it?"
"Because such an event would be a miracle, and science has
nothing to do with miracles."
"Then perhaps science is the poorer for it," said the
traveler, sitting down to watch his television, which just then
happened to be showing a dove flying silently across the sky.
A Fish Story
The bright sun and the gentle wind had made the little fish
almost bold that summer day, enough so that they were swimming all
over the pond, from their home in the reeds at one end to the rocky
beach at the other. Or at least they swam very near to the rocky
beach--as near as they dared--for all the older fish constantly
warned them to stay away. Some of the dangers were clear enough,
|