They arrived in their many space craft – which looked nothing like the flying saucers of our sci-fi movies. They arrived from a planet in some distant galaxy that our astronomers had not yet noticed or named. Just as well, since it already had its name, given by its own inhabitants: Luth.

“We are Luthanians from the planet Luth,” so said their commander-in-chief.

He spoke through some contraption attached to his space craft that somehow reached the ears of people Earth-wide. That somehow translated his words into all our Earth languages.

“We come in peace. We come to save you from yourselves and from the darkness you seem to live in.”

The strange thing about these aliens was that they – well, weren’t. Alien, that is. They weren’t little grey beings. Nor little green beings with huge eyes. Nothing like the aliens portrayed in our sci-fi movies.

No; they looked like us, they dressed like us. They were male and female like us. Black-skinned, white-skinned and all the shades in between, just like us. Except their bodies seemed to have a golden glow.

Their eyes seemed to have a golden glow too, but I only noticed that later.

At first, they were hated, these aliens.

Gangs of humans banded together. “We will annihilate these foreigners coming here to colonise us. Thinking they are better than us. Wanting to impose their ways on us. As if they are superior! They are only after our resources. Thieves and criminals! Or perhaps they want to wipe out human beings and take over our planet.”

But, of course, within minutes the gangs of humans were turning on each other. Annihilating each other.

“No, we don’t want your resources,” said their commander. “We have no plans to colonise. We are content with our own planet. We have all we need back on Luth. We just want to help. Like the Good Samaritan of your Bible.”

“Yes,” said his second-in-command, a female. “We are so alike, your people and our people. Yet somehow, your people have taken the road of violence and savagery. Whilst we live in peace and harmony. We always have.”

It seemed that on the planet of Luth, war and bloodshed and genocide were unknown. Even though they too had different religions, different races, different nationalities. Yet these differences were never a reason to attack one another.

“So why is that?” the third-in-command asked. He was a tall, dark man who looked for all the world like a fellow-Zulu. “What is the difference between us? Perhaps it is some small difference that has set us on the road to peace and set you Earthlings on the road to violence. We will work together with you and find the answer. And when you have peace again, we will leave.”

Yep, this was their idea, their plan of action.

***

Tell us what you think: Why might humans all rather quickly get more aggressive?