Oddest+of+All

In the short story, "In Our Own Hands," Bruce Coville paints a picture of a dismal society, living on an earth on the brink of disaster. The Lyrans, seemingly [|altruistic] aliens, come to offer help - but with conditions. How would YOU vote, if asked, and WHY.

I VOTE YES

 I would vote yes because if what they say is true we should certainly take their offer. Even if they’re lying then they could have enslaved us already and still could if we voted no. I believe that they truly don’t want anything in return. If they wanted something they could have come and seized it with out making the offer to us. What douse it matter if they are in charge of everything about us. The world is like this any ways considering the fact that the government makes all the decisions after we elect them. This is what we are doing. We are electing a new government, they just happen to not be human. Sometimes you have to take a chance and go with your gut, and considering the fact that our planet is truly in a sinkhole and the Lyrans may be able to get us out of it, my gut feeling is that the best possible choice is to vote for the Lyrans. Liam  I VOTE YES

Because our world is desperate and this is the only real help that can save us. If we don't say yes, we will all die soon enough. They are making a extremely good compromise. If we say no, they might go and never come back and we will die with regret. This is the best chance we will ever have, and if we try to do it ourselves we will probably fail and die anyway. The conditions aren't that bad, and if they were going to kill or enslave us, they already would have. Us humans get the choice of who to elect, and the candidates just happen to be a different species.
 * Nefertiti

I would vote for the aliens because they are making a good compromise in which we don’t really give anything. That may seem too good to be true, but they will help us through our time of need, and they will help us shape our society for the better. Besides, they won’t be in charge the whole time, just up until we can manage ourselves. That is why I believe that the aliens should take over, just until we can take care of ourselves. -Jelly

I vote no, because I would rather go down with a fight than have another species, a species we’ve only known about for nine days, run our lives. I don’t want to live my life thinking about what might have happened if I had voted yes and the other way around. Because I know what I want to live in a world that we are striving to fix ourselves than a world that was fixed for us that we might not agree with in the end. If we as an entire world work to safe our world together than we might strengthen ourselves as a race. This whole experience is a finding yourself kind of experience that only happens once in a lifetime and I know what I want is to take the reins not hand them over. No matter what happens no matter the horrors or the sadness I would vote no because I want to fix our world together. No matter what it takes.

~Wendy

When you chose your own future, if you chose Lyrans, it's not your future anymore. People didn't die, sacrifice themselves for future generations just to have Earth lead into a paradise of dependence. With Lyran help, the people are giving up on a civilization. a period where people thought for themselves, you are giving up independence, something millions have fought for for thousands of years. If Earth must die, let it die knowing that while we were here, we stood for something. -Alex (aka Yoshi)

I vote yes. This world is truly collapsing, war, and sickness has torn it apart. It seems even neighbors are cautious of each other. With Lyran rule, I believe that this endless string of tumult will be put to an end. The people of the world were even provoked to violence by the Lyran question itself. We are frankly no more than a race on the brink of total collapse, good, cannot be told from evil, right cannot be told from wrong, how could we possibly stitch ourselves back together, when such horrible things are being done. Like an unstoppable plague, violence leads to further violence, and sickness leads to further sickness, we require assistance, before we meet our deaths. To choose to be ignorant, is to choose to allow the world to collapse. ~Ben Decker

I would vote yes. We obviously need help and the Lyrans will give it to us for free. When there is peace, they will leave. That is the best part, they will save us for nothing in return except control for a small amount of time. As soon as we can take care of ourselves, we will. They are obviously much more advanced than humans and with their help there will be peace. We shouldn't turn down their offer because it could save us. If the Lyrans truly wanted something from us, they would take it. The Lyrans will save our world from everything that is tearing it apart. There would be no more disease, war, hunger, poverty, etc. The list of things that are destroying the world is massive. Voting no will only destroy our world. Even if the Lyrans were evil, at least voting yes gives us a chance. I doubt we could accomplish all this by ourselves, and if so it would take thousands of years. With Lyran help, our world could be saved in just a few years. ~Gemma P.S. Why would the Lyrans want us to vote no?

I would vote “yes”. Definitely. Our world is in danger. Our people are in danger. We have had plenty of chances to make our planet better. All of them have been failed. We have invented many things, yes. But what are these things? What have they done for us? We have invented all sorts of cures. For what? For sucking the fat out of our bodies, for doing away with wrinkles. Some accomplishments. What about cancer? We haven’t found a cure for that yet! Cars and trains, why not bikes and scooters? These cars and trains, the motorcycles and buses. They are the reason for the pollution. They have turned our sky black and our water brown. They are why we have died from just spending too much time outside. Think about what our planet was like before our time. Blue sky, turquoise water, pristine forests, no poverty, war or hunger. It was like heaven. Until we came along and ruined it. The Lyras have made the same mistake as us, but they have found an answer. And we need this answer. The Lyras have given us our last chance and if we don’t say “yes” to them, then our planet has no hope. We have no chance to cure our world of hunger and war and sickness and hatred. With the help of the Lyras, we have one more chance to succeed. So if you want a future to our planet, then say “yes” to the Lyras. ~Chappy

I confess: I (CA)used this story with ALL groups around Election Day! Think about this: A fifth grader offers this comment: Maybe the Lyrans WANT us to vote NO. Sixth graders wondered if accepting the Lyran's offer would make us lose what defines us as human. They claimed we should learn from our mistakes.... Visit Communications8 wiki to see what eighth graders thought!