When I was a kid, my weekend dad and I bonded over Star Trek

Two generations connecting over the Generation before The Next

And despite everything that should have made me aspire to be Captain Kirk

My first real hero became Mr. Spock

The unreal half-Vulcan who taught me the value of logic

And the virtue of being able to control my emotions

The pointy-eared bastard who remains the only hero to this day never to let me down

Whose eyebrow raise became my response to everything

As “Live Long and Prosper” became my first maxim

And the hand gesture that signifies it became the first symbol that I ever believed in

As well as the first thing that I ever put effort into learning

Refusing to give up even though it was hard

Refusing to accept as a possibility that I may lack the proper Vulcan physiology to do it

Until I could finally say “Live Long and Prosper” with either hand

Bestowing futuristic well-wishes upon people who had no idea what I was doing

Much to my father’s proud amusement, I am sure

But my mind was focused on a future full of ideals

And how great is it that I learned about Humanism from a space alien?

Because Mr. Spock taught me Utilitarianism before I even knew what Utilitarianism was

When he said that “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one”

And demonstrated through noble sacrifice the courage of his convictions

Which is why I profess loudly as a proud blue-shirt to this very day

That everything good about who I am I inherited from Star Trek

And from being a human child who saw the value in the Vulcan way