Vulcan Wisdom

I became a huge Trekkie over the past couple years. Even attempted my own version of Kolinar this past summer.

One thing I've learned is that some people just don't get it. But, I can't blame them.

Growing up, in my mind, Trekkies were geeks that lived in their parents' basements, unable to cope with the real world.

But I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Yeah, there are phasers and sexy Orion slave girls. But Trek is more than that. Much more.

It posits the potential goodness, nobility and beauty that could be achieved by humankind. That paradigm could best be summed up in this image:

While in a checkout lane at the grocery store one day, a dude glanced at my t-shirt with a Starfleet insignia on it and we started talking Trek and sci-fi. He had no hesitation pointing out how it was "escapism."

My response?

"Yeah, in a way it is. But so is watching NFL football and Keeping Up With The Kardashians. The difference is, with Trek, you're learning how to be a better human."

A friend of mine who's a writer once asked me,"How come you haven't written a book?" I informed him that I couldn't think of anything that would make the world a better place that hasn't already been said before. He responded,"That's ok. People weren't listening before."

And I think that's one of the reasons Trek has stayed in the public sphere of functioning for so long. Most people aren't going to dig into the depths of the realms of philosophy and logic written in ancient Greece or India. But getting a taste of truth, even in the guise of Vulcan philosophy, helps make enduring the trials of life a bit easier.

Yeah. Trek is escapism. But it's an escape from ignorance towards the truth. And truth is truth, whether uttered by Plato, Nagarjuna or a man wearing prosthetic ears.

Stephen Sumner is the science fiction columnist for Action A Go Go. His favorite sci-fi series include Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. He can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/VierLights or on the Tumblr machine at http://vierlights.tumblr.com/.