Thank You, Mr. Spock. Thank You, Leonard Nimoy.

By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up!  (@AKessaris)

When the CBC used to air Star Trek re-runs every Sunday at 10 am, I watched them religiously.  (I would be upset on the rare occasions when my mother decided to drag us to church…it was the 1970’s, a time before you could tape a show for later view, or stream it at your own convenience.)    That was how I, like most people, was introduced to the sci-fi phenomenon.  I just loved anything in the genre, but as I grew older, I began to appreciate the subtext, metaphors, and subtleties of the show.  Each time I watched an episode, I discovered something new.

I can’t think of any other TV show that so favourably affected and influenced western society more than the various Star Trek series.  It inspired a whole generation of people to become scientists and engineers.  It gave us a reason to be optimistic about the future.  It gave us hope for humankind.

I remember seeing a sequence of still photographs from the 2010 G8 summit in Toronto where a protester stood face to face with a police officer.  The first shot had the dreadlocked disident giving the stern law enforcement agent the peace sign.  He responded in kind with the Vulcan salute.  Who knows what words were exchanged, but that doesn’t really matter.  The images said it all. (Most people, even those who have never seen Star Trek, know the Vulcan hand-sign and the valediction “Live long and prosper.”  I can’t think of a better thing to wish someone.  Secular.  Terse.  Positive.  Not many know that there is a response to that:  “Peace.  And long life.”)

Everyone wanted to be Captain Kirk.  The swashbuckling, tough, dashing hero.  The one who saves the day.  True leader of men.  Can take out a Klingon with a single karate chop to the neck (a technique also used to great effect by Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble in the Flintstones’ “Dr. Sinister” episode).  Lover of green women.  But he also had his faults, like the way he sexually harassed the female members of his crew.  (One in particular stands out:  Crew member Dr. Helen Noel, whom Kirk seduces after a drunken holiday party in the episode “Dagger of the Mind”…either Star Fleet does not have an effective H.R. department or women somehow have fewer rights in the 23^rd century, but I digress).

Growing up I never fit in anywhere.  I had nothing in common with the other kids at school and in the neighbourhood, who looked at me as though I were from another planet.   I didn’t even feel comfortable in my own family.  As a son of immigrants, I found no place for myself outside of my ethnic group or within it.  A child of multiple cultures, not belonging in either.  It was so difficult that when I was young I often wondered if there was a mix-up at the hospital and I ended with the wrong parents.

As I aged a felt more of a connection to the Enterprise’s first officer (I once dressed up like him for a Halloween party).  One line in particular stood out, almost spoke to me, from the episode “The Enemy Within”:

“Being split in two halves is no theory to me, Doctor.  I have a human half, you see, as well as an alien half, submerged, constantly at war with each other…I survive it because my intelligence wins out over both, makes them live together.”

What I admired most about him was how he looked at the world; how he never quite understood why everyone around him behaved the way that they did, so “illogically.”  But no matter what, he never betrayed what he believed.  Mr. Spock always stood his ground and remained true to himself.  Through him I learned to stay the course, have strength of character, and not worry about what others thought of me.  And he helped make it cool to be smart.

So thank you, Mr. Spock, for showing me that I was not alone.  And thank You, Leonard Nimoy, for bringing him to life.  You lived long, and you helped us all prosper.