to boldly go where no man has gone before....

For this post, we are going to take a little journey, a journey through time and space, deep INTO space.

I'm talking, of course, about Star Trek.

There is nowhere else in the galaxy where we could find a finer example of identity than on the USS Enterprise. We simply walk on to the bridge, turn to our right, take a few steps, and there he is: the fascinating Mr. Spock.

Science officer and first officer aboard the flagship for the United Federation of Planets, Spock holds a place of huge power and responsibility. He is almost uniformly respected, obeyed, and admired...almost. Spock has two rather noticeable things that set him apart from the rest of the crew: his two pointy ears. These self-same ears, hallmark of his half-Vulcan half-human heritage, place Spock on a different level than any of his human crew members, and Spock becomes the sad proof that, yes, prejudice still exists in the future.

Because the Vulcans revere logic, Spock is logical to the point of coldness, undeniably practical, and pointedly sardonic in his observations of human shortcomings. Although he may respect many beings, he has few friends, and rarely recognizes them as such. He is critical, exacting, and lacks empathetic understanding of many basic human emotions. These qualities make him even more of an "alien" among the all too human crew of the Enterprise. Despite the occassional butting of heads and the periodic alienation of his alien self, Spock is the best at what he does, and feels he could be needed nowhere else as much as on a ship of illogical humans. Loyal, smart, resourceful, determined, brave, and honest, Spock is as good a man as anyone without green blood, and twice as useful for his Vulcan qualities.

It is Spock's quest for self that becomes most interesting when related to our bigger question. Torn forever between two worlds, Spock can be perfectly happy in neither; he is not completely understood by humans and not completely accepted by Vulcans. Spock also faces the struggle between both his primal human side and his native Vulcan logic; unable to fully offer love, but always longing for it, the dark eyes of the second officer often epitomize loneliness, isolation, and the inability to belong. It is this continual struggle to find a balance between warring halves of his identity that make Spock such a useful character study.

So what can we learn from the human Mr. Spock, the vulcan Mr. Spock, and the total entity of our Star Trek friend?

1. It is possible to having two opposing sides of self.


2. It is only by seeking balance between both sides, denying neither, that one can be truly happy.


3. Sometimes this balance must be created and sought after, not easily recieved. The balance for Spock is his only home, the Enterprise itself. Because happiness is elusive on both Vulcan and Earth, Spock seeks a literal middleground in his journey across the universe. This parallels the nature of the island in Shakespeare's The Tempest; sometimes one must seek abroad to find a "great equalizer," a place where all desires can be realized.

Spock says it best himself when he states what all creatures must aim to do, no matter what their crisis of identity may be: "Live long, and prosper."