What I learned from Star Trek (TOS)

Wow, to think Star Trek is going to be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. It’s been a wild ride over the past five decades. Star Trek is one of those shows that parts odd but useful wisdom.

So, as my way of celebrating 50 years of this fantastic franchise, I am going to impart the wisdom that Star Trek: The Original Series has taught me to you.

The first death in Star Trek

 

• Never follow hot strangers.

Should some attractive person seem to flirt with you and invite you to follow them, don’t! This never ends well.

Heck, even in the first episode a young man follows an attractive lady and guess what? Turns out she’s a salt sucking alien and she kills him. Gee, who would have ever seen that coming?

Stranger danger, everyone. Stranger danger.

 

 

 

• Don’t investigate strange occurrences.

Perhaps the most common way red shirts die. Oh, look, a flower is moving by itself! I must investigate! Oh, I have been shot by this robot flower. Uh oh, I’m dead. Seriously, how dumb can some of these red shirts be?

If you ever hear an odd noise or think you see something off, don’t try to be Sherlock Holmes.

 

• If all else fails, sass.

Authority telling you not to go rescue your buddy? Someone giving you grief, or are you  just feeling sassy? Well, it seems in the Star Trek world if you want to get away with murder just apply sass.

Turns out, it works to some degree in this world too.

• Logic.

To quote our favourite Vulcan, logic is the beginning of wisdom not the end. I take this philosophy to heart. Logic is a tool everyone should use, unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case. Don’t believe me? Log into social media or turn on the news and your faith in humanity will die. I buried mine a few weeks back, not a lot of people showed up to the funeral but that was probably because they were burying theirs as well.

Got a bit pessimistic there, but my point stands. We have got where we are as a species because of logic, never forget that.

It’s important to have friends in you corner

• Bromance > Romance.

If your friendship hasn’t been mistaken for a romance at least once, you aren’t that close.

Okay, maybe this one is for the younger side of the fandom. However, Star Trek shows how important trust and teamwork really is. We might not be captaining humanities finest flagship but we are still on a journey. We rely on others just as much as they rely on us. Friends can get you through your darkest days and help you see your true potential.

Live long and prosper.