Rick and I seem to have had recent thoughts along similar lines. Except while he was thinking of wonderful giants, dwarves and trolls, I was thinking of Star Trek.

The old Star Trek series wasn't just an entertaining sci-fi show, it had a depth that was often unappreciated. It had a cast of main characters, some of whom were as different emotionally and philosophically as you could get. Mr. Spock adhered to a logical, data-based outlook while Dr. McCoy didn't give a hoot about logic without the addition of the personal; his focus was an emotional, compassion-based one. Sparks often flew between Spock and McCoy. "Really, doctor, you should learn to control your emotions." "Is that all you can think about, Spock? What the probabilities are? What about the people who will be affected, you pointy-eared, green blooded..."

Then there was Kirk, who often had the job of mediating between the two. And how did he manage that, as well as actually being friends with two such disparate personalities? If you watched the show long enough, you discovered that the combination of both Spock's and McCoy's viewpoints was valuable to Kirk. He appreciated the characteristics of both of his companions. He rarely came down on an either-or decision in favor of one or the other, but took each into consideration in reviewing whatever crisis of the moment was going on. Sometimes Spock's logic pulled the irons out of the fire. Sometimes McCoy's compassion accomplished what Spock couldn't. Sometimes Spock was faced with "insufficient data, Captain", or he was unable to consider an "illogical" method of accomplishing a goal. Sometimes all McCoy could say was "I'm going to get the sick bay ready."

Together they helped keep Kirk in the center, and they helped get done whatever needed to be accomplished -- because different viewpoints are all VALUABLE. They contribute to the whole. Rarely, oh so rarely, does anything of import tip the scales all one way or the other. Right and wrong is often much less important than "have we thought about every aspect that we can?"

I know some might wonder why I've left Scotty out of this. His character was a stereotype of the single-focus, can-do engineering way of thinking. "Aye, Captain, I'll be able to catch up on reading me technical journals!" (Happily said, after he was confined to quarters.) I've not put Scotty into the overall picture because, regardless of his representation of engineering, and how much I liked his character, I think real life engineers are much more multi-faceted people.

Besides, I think Spock, Bones and Kirk are enough to put us in a frame of mind where we may be able to see that the Starship Enterprise sailed through the uncharted regions of space more safely *because* of different views, not in spite of them.

Anyone remember one of the responses to "Live long and prosper."?

"Peace, and long life."

-- Anonymous, May 25, 1999

Answers

I didn't remember the response to "Live long and prosper," but I do remember that the Scotty line quoted above came from the episode entitled "The Trouble with Tribbles"--which means that I saw way, way too much "Star Trek" when I was a kid (and sometimes not a kid)!

-- Anonymous, June 04, 1999