America and Trek

Star Trek is one of the few cultural phenomena of its kind and scope that goes beyond nationalism and tries to apply human ideals to the entire world. Like anything else in a deterministic universe, it is a product of its American origin. That fact is a credit to America.

It is true that the United States itself does not exist in a vacuum. Its ideals are also found in countries that sparked the Enlightenment, and in cultures, East and West, that have shared similar values, such as respect for life, compassion, automony, and kindness toward others. Contrast our highest values as a culture with that of totalitarian cults, for example, of whatever scope, place and time, and the difference is unmistakable.

To quote Kirk in Star Trek VI, some (Francis Fukuyama, for instance) say that we have reached the end of history, but we haven't run out of history quite yet. History abides. We make it, because we are a beneficiary of it. The historical threads that have built our civilization, and that has allowed this country to spread a positive influence across the world, are maintained by the values our country, and others, continue to express.

We may falter, and indeed we have. But the good thing about the universe is that for all intents and purposes, time is infinite. Every moment is a promise of hope.

America, and Trek, tell us that it is up to us to promote that hope and make it real, through word and deed, in every moment that lies before us, in the undiscovered country.