Star Trekking

WHEN KIRK SPOCK STAR TREK came on, I was eleven, just the right age. Hard to believe its been fifty years. Rumor was that the show was cancelled the day after Armstrong walked on the moon, because the producers thought it was no longer science fiction. It was nearly cancelled the year before, but fans brought it back, for the third and final year. In 1966 I badly wanted one of those cell phones-communicators, now, I avoid them like the plague. Their inventor claimed he was inspired by the show. Many top scientists make similar claims about their inspiration. I remember one warm summer night in 1973, right out of high school, sharing a bottle of Boone's Farm with a girl friend (I'm a cheap date) by the side of a roaring waterfall, telling about my favorite episode. Kirk, as usual, has gone through a serious romance, only to have it end, because duty called. The Enterprise was his only love. At the very end of the show, he lays his head on his desk, and says how much he wished he could..just...forget.... McCoy and Spock are standing there, and they don't like each other. McCoy uses the opportunity to lash out against Spock. "As sorry as I feel for him, I feel sorrier for you. At lest he can feel, to know what its like to be human. You'll never know, Spock, the passions, the loves, the losses, the joys, and the agonies of a human being. And for that, I pity you". Then, he turns and walks out of the room. McCoy's pity means nothing to Spock, no human emotion does, other than as an illogical response. Spock turns his head, slightly, to make sure McCoy is gone. He turns to Kirk, who is sleeping, head on desk. Spock places his flat palm on Kirk's head, and, using his telepathic powers, utters the word "forget". Perhaps there is a logic to compassion which transcends base emotion. Perhaps love and friendship have as much to do with rational thought as passion and emotion. If not here, they do in Mr. Spock's universe. But he would never want you to know it.