I’ve always been a fan of Star Trek, particularly “The Next Generation”, “Voyager’ and “Deep Space Nine”. This morning I was sitting in our sauna, soothing my lower body stiffness and soreness from having played basketball last night, and watching an episode of “ST: TNG” on DVD with the commentary.
There was mention of how Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry re-introduced “Klingons” into the Next Generation series as honorable allies of the Federation, knowing full well that, after having established them as one-dimensional villains in the original series, many viewers would be dismayed by this discontinuity.
This was intentional on Roddenberry’s part, because he wanted to do something to enlighten people to the wisdom that, regarding how there are those who you view one-dimensionally as enemies, you could open up to recognizing them as more than one-dimensional “enemies”, or “bad people”, and one day, become friends.
A great turning point in my life occurred when I was about 10 years old, thinking about what motivates people’s behavior, and it occurred to me that if you understood why a person did what they did and said what they said, you couldn’t and wouldn’t be upset with or toward them.
Gene Roddenberry demonstrated being ahead of his time, not merely technologically, but sociologically, in many ways; his original Star Trek series broke social barriers on broadcast media with the first interracial kiss as well, and showed us the way with people of different races (“aliens” included) working together in harmony.
Open yourself to the idea that you could have a friendship with someone who you regard as “evil”, or an “enemy.” Feels good, doesn’t it? Quite a profound bit of wisdom.
“All we are saying, is give peace a chance.”