I only recently realized how important Star Trek was to forming my world view and sense of my self. I saw an interview with Gene Roddenberry and he was talking about how he wanted Star Trek to be Utopian instead of all the Sci Fi at the time which was dystopian. He wanted children to believe in the future. Wow! I thought. I realized I don’t know why my life would be like without Star Trek, Mr. Spock in particular.

I believed. For so long.

And then I didn’t. After dealing with the crushing blows of corporate and government politics. And seeing my own friends melt down into various forms of insanity when reality clashed with their view of the world and themselves - the view they held for so long.

Well, they say, things come in threes, and we always end up where we started, from a more mature perspective.

I believe again.

But what do I believe?

I believe being subjected to piles of shit from people is a sign of success. It’s inevitable. No point in arguing about it or pointing it out endlessly expecting anything to change. I can only control my behavior.

I believe that grokking that we all have an audience and they matter more than anything is a fundamental shift in life that comes from success. That’s about all we can do for the most part, starting with enjoying life, being positive and entertaining yet realistic with the hand we’ve been dealt (and sometimes blunt).

I know I make people’s lives more colorful and insightful. (I’m an entertainer). We all have that power in our own way. If you can’t find it, try harder. And when we put our well liked neck out there to support something difficult that we believe it, people notice. More than we notice. A lot more. And if we all did more of this, we would be on our way to feeling fulfilled in what we left to our children and friends.

I think Captain Picard would smile at the thought.