The Tao of Spock

Another Star Trek movie hit the cinemas last weekend. As a Trekkie of old, I watched the characters evolve through their history and considered the wisdom of the Vulcan way of life. Logic rules. Simple, elegant and no grey areas. The root of this evolution resides in the very violent history of the Vulcan people, which nearly destroyed them. The directive then became logic rules. Logic rules over emotion. No aggression, no violence. Considering the current state of affairs, perhaps we need to look more closely at this tenet. Society is violent. Here and abroad, we are a very volatile people. Our children play games whose objectives are destruction and murder. Problem solving has been reduced to whomever is the strongest or has the most weaponry wins. In Spock's world, calm is king and emotions are the only thing that ever shake his keen ability to reason. Hatred brings him back to his primitive roots which never serves the situation. He must learn to control emotions or they will control him. Ahh, there is the path! And this is something he must work on his entire life. Maybe if we use a feature film to explain it takes practice to be able to control rage and anger, kids will think it is worth their effort! Too bad life can't be as easily scripted as a movie. They can still see pretty amazing results for their efforts if we help them. Adults be role models! Maybe it is time to celebrate the Tao of Spock. Take a kid to see Star Trek, or better yet, have them watch the original episodes that explain the rationale behind the pointy eared one. Oh yes, and "Live long and Prosper!"