The world received sad news this week when Leonard Nimoy passed away. For those that don’t know, Nimoy was best known as his role as Spock in the original Star Trek. His death doesn’t just leave a mark on the nerd community but for anyone who has felt out of place. Nimoy has always been a crusader for the different.
In 1966 he appeared as the unfeeling vulcan Spock aboard the starship Enterprise. Vulcans are taught not to experience or give into emotion, but because Spock is half human he spends a lot of his time fighting the feelings he doesn’t understand. In a world where humans live and work with aliens from all over the universe, Spock is the most unusual on the ship. Though Captain Kirk will never understand his behavior, let’s be honest he doesn’t really try, he still considers Spock a best friend.
From the day it started Star Trek showed a more diverse world than we could ever imagine. The bridge of the Enterprise was comprised of a prominent black woman (if you don’t know anything about Nichelle Nichols, open a new tab and read about her immediately. She’s amazing.), an alien that can only work logically, and of course the incomparable George Takei (if you don’t know who that is, you haven’t been on the Internet in five years and I can’t help you). In their journeys, they came upon races and people never seen before and interacted with them without second thought.
In the future, Earth works as one to grow our understanding of the universe, and Spock was at the center of that. He showed that friendship doesn’t mean coming from the same background, but that the only way to grow as a person or uh Vulcan is to surround yourself with people that challenge you. Kirk and Spock are as different as you can get, and yet their friendship spawned generations of fans or Trekkies or Trekkers, depending.
Nimoy said that from playing Spock for so long he began to act like him in her personal life. He turned to logic before emotion and approached situations in a more calm manner. In 1973, the Star Trek animated series was created. Nimoy heard the creators were planning on leaving out Nichols and Takei, and said he wouldn’t do it without them. He said they are the ones that most represent diversity and losing them meant losing him.
In 1968, Nimoy received a letter from a girl who had a black mother and white father. She wrote about feeling like she didn’t belong so she reached out to the one person she thought would understand, someone half human/half vulcan. His response detailed Spock’s difficult childhood, never feeling accepted but how he has found his place. I suggest reading the entire letter, no one can say it better than him.
This week we mourn the loss of an icon, but it is the perfect time to remember all that he has taught us through his words and work. It seems kind of silly that this day and age we put stock in tweets, but his last was perfect.
As always, live long and prosper.
Someone Call A Grownup 