Stranger in a Strange Land

This is a fictional story.

Once upon a time there was an alien species.

This alien species valued pleasure, finding it as natural as the mythical stories of Adam and Eve in Eden, with nothing to be shameful about. Pleasure was not their obsession or only pursuit, probably because they never prevented themselves from pursuing pleasure when it felt right. They had many other healthy passions and interests.

This alien species had some mating and family practices that our human culture might find taboo.

Most would selectively mate with friends and sometimes strangers until they found one or more that they wanted to partner with for an extended period of time; sometimes for life, sometimes for less, sometimes forever. This partnering formed a dynamic network of various shapes.

After they were partnered, most continued mating with friends and sometimes strangers. Females who were nested sometimes chose to bear children. When they did, they sometimes continued to take other selective mates, thus expanding the diversity of the gene pool.

This alien species did something else very different than our modern human culture that most would find taboo. The parents fell in love with their children. They did not merely *love* their children, they *fell in love with them* and bonded with them in a way that humans can only understand as husband and wife, but even deeper, more caring, and unbreakable. They guided them and empowered them in a way most humans these days do not.

This starts essentially from birth, mothers developing their love bond with their sons, and fathers developing their love bonds with their daughters. In this sense, women married their fathers and sons, and men married their mothers and daughters. Of course mothers also loved their daughters, and fathers also loved their sons, but in different ways. This alien species only conceived with select others outside their family, to keep the gene pool fresh and diverse.

They continued to love their children throughout their lives and beyond. They even helped them choose mates and life partners until their sons and daughters learned their own wisdom.

Then one day this alien species visited Earth.