What are the odds that our life is the first that has reached sufficient complexity to be able to communicate within our galaxy?
Given that there are 100-400 billion stars (and even more planets) just in the Milky Way: Pretty much zero.
If all the civilizations started more or less at the same time that us, it's not so weird that we have not found anybody else. If you add some other factor (maybe civilizations are only possible far from the center, so there is a big spread between them) the probabilities improve.
It also would mean interesting times ahead for humanity.
Of course, all this is only idle speculation.
To be clear, I'm not saying that's what it is ... the fermi paradox is a great thought experiment. But let's just keep things in perspective. Low odds don't mean something won't happen, just like "true random" doesn't mean the same song can't/won't play 10 times in a row ;)
As in, the universe may be littered with the ruins of single-planet civilizations slightly ahead of our technology level. We may have observed and cataloged many such planets, failing to notice the ruins.