father 339.fat.002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Dayan occasionally gave antiquities from his collection, e.g. to the king of Morocco (Dayan 1981:42; Ben Ezer 1997:286). A Chalcolithic ossuary from Azur reached the Louvre, Paris, where it was proudly marked as a donation from Dayan (Ben-Ezer 1997:219). Ruth Dayan gave, for Christmas, an ancient lamp from Dayan�s collection to a Christian father in Nazareth (Dayan R. and Dedman 1973:237). When Ron Miberg, a journalist, visited Zahala in 1977, Dayan gave him a head of a Roman pillar as a gift for Miberg�s father (Miberg 1991:20).

On special occasions Dayan gave antiquities to relatives. When Yael gave birth, he gave her a statuette of a lioness and a cub (Dayan Y 1985:193; Yael�s introduction in Ornan 1986). Sometimes Dayan could not offer love or affection, so he gave antiquities instead (Dayan Y. 1985:108; Yael�s introduction in Ornan 1986). Dayan�s grandson Saar showed interest in archaeology, and was allowed to chose three items from the collection in each visit to his grandfather.� �Well, Saar, what shall I miss from the collection this time?... Usually, he would allow me to take one [item]; during hours of special generosity, all the three� (Dayan S. 1991:20).� On his last visit, Dayan gave Saar a special holiday present of ten scarabs. According to Saar, they came from Egypt: �Grandfather knew that my interest in archaeology reached a point where I could distinguish real from fake. He lit the lamp, held close the magnifying glass...and we both looked at the scarabs like experts evaluating the merchandise� (Dayan S. 1991:20).� Indeed, the term merchandise is appropriate here.

exactly 551.exa.997 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

The question of whether life is common or rare in the universe has deep philosophical implications. It is uncertain exactly how life arose on Earth, so it is difficult to determine how common such mechanisms are. But if life also arose on Mars, this would show that those mechanisms operated not just once, but twice, arguing that life may well be common elsewhere.

However, the search for life on Mars thus far has been unsuccessful. Some portion of the scientific community feels that further searches are a waste of time, while another portion remains neutral or guardedly optimistic. In principle, it's simple to prove that there is life on Mars -- all one need do is find an example. Proving there isn't life on Mars is much harder. Even a prolonged negative search can be countered with the suggestion of yet another, more inaccessible place in which to look.

In the case of Mars, the issue has been complicated by the emotional belief in an Earthlike Mars, which has largely been shown to have been a myth. Mars is a spectacular place, and will remain so even if it is finally proved to be lifeless. Today, we don't know for sure if there is or ever was life on Mars. But one thing is certain -- one day, there will be.