"Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope and, crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." -Robert Kennedy
I'm about to let my geek colors fly and embrace my inner nerdiness. You have been forewarned.
I've always been a fan of Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry and his vision for our future, a brave future exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations, and boldly going where no one has gone before.
In short, because volumes could be written on the topic, Roddenberry's vision is a type of utopia centered around human society's future evolution as we reach out to the worlds and subsequent civilizations around us within the stars. It's a time in earth's future when we've evolved to a point, not of perfection, but to one of being able to look beyond our more selfish individual base instincts to one of reaching out to other. Other in terms of others not apparent, on the surface, to be like us at all; other in terms of embracing the inalienable reality of the importance of respecting life outside of ourselves; other in terms of attempting to understand, support, and embrace infinite diversity within infinite combinations; other in terms of the immutable truth that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is for everyone, not just ourselves. This is what Star Trek has always meant to me. This is the vantage point from which I go forth into my own exploration of life in the universe around me. That's why "To Love So Well The World" exists for me as a blog. Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto.
Yesterday something I watched made me weep almost uncontrollably, multiple times. No, not the presidential debate, sad as it was, but rather the newest episode of Star Trek Discovery. I would suggest that if you don't want to encounter a SPOILER DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER.
In the third season of Star Trek Discovery, the intrepid crew of the USS Discovery has been forced, in order to save the universe, to leave their own time period in a one way trip and head into the very distant and unknown future. In this new future, they discover that the United Federation of Planets (UFP), once a great unifying force in the galaxy dedicated to the above mentioned vision and it's exploratory arm Starfleet has been all but destroyed. They then begin their quest to unravel the mystery of what has brought down the United Federation of Planets and all they hold dear while at the same time trying to discover what this means to them, their identity, and their mission.
Much like another Star Trek series, Star Trek Voyager which follows the lives of the crew of the USS Voyager who have been displaced on the other side of the galaxy in relation to their home in the Alpha Quadrant, the crew of the USS Discovery must learn what it means to follow the vision and goals of the UFP while essentially being on their own, displaced in time, while experiencing life threatening challenges.
Without getting into to much plot and scene work here, suffice it to say, their moving commitment to the ideals of the Federation and as such, Gene Roddenberry, and by extrapolation, the ideals of the United States is heart moving. When faced with becoming something else, something less than, and betraying those ideals mentioned above in order to expedite their plight or save their very lives, they choose instead to make a stand, asserting: "That is not who we are; that is not what we're about. We're Starfleet." And I wept.
I wept in large part because I think we as Americans are in the middle of a existential election and have been losing our way. In the past 3-4 years we've embraced a political reality that is diametrically opposed to those ideals mentioned above and the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. Other is now dangerous, less than, and somehow wicked because other is not like us. We seem to be embracing a world where it's okay to make fun of people for whatever reason; to name call in order to denigrate and diminish other; to boldly lie about anything and everything even in the face of verifiable reality and truth to the contrary; to warp cultural understanding of reality into something it's not because we fear to lose our own personal identity and reality; to disregard science and verifiable fact in service of personal preference or convenience; to abuse other families and children through killing, separation, and caging because they are not like us, their skin is a different color or their gender and or sexuality is different than ours and we fear them. These are just some of the ways we seem to have gone off track. And I wept.
I hope we can find our way back to our mission, back to our goals, back to our ideals instead of embracing this fear filled and self-focused isolationism that we seem to have embraced over the last 3-4 years. I hope we can once again embrace the Great Experiment and the noble and bold goals it embodies. I hope that we can again be the United States of America, albeit not a perfect union, but one committed to the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I started my day on a beautiful morning in Colorado Springs. I had spent the previous evening boondocked next to a friends fifth wheel in an RV park. I had my second shower in 16 days and hit the road.
I was zipping through Colorado and minding my own business when Google told me to jump off the highway and hop on a county road. It sounded dubious to me but I reluctantly acquiesced. I was getting off an interstate onto Owl Canyon County Road. My first thought was, nope, nada, getting back on the highway and then the wanderer in me said, "why not?" So, I kept going.
It wasn't too long until I came to a roundabout in the middle of nowhere and exited onto a dirt road, again, following Google's instructions. At this point I wished I had stayed on the highway and wished I had my friend Jerry's new atlas book he had shared with me the day before I left the Ozarks.
So here I am on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere Colorado and then it gets even more sketch, as if that were possible. The dirt road is being grated and resurfaced. Now I wait with a worker holding a stop sign in my way.
It goes on, and on, and on, and on...
Finally I get the go ahead to go though. I can here the mud slapping all over the Kraken and I am just imagining what poor Peregrine clinging to the back of the van will look like. What a mess.\
I'm dumped out one what appears to be a secondary road and Google spurs me onward. It's at least a beautiful drive through some wonderful canyons and then I see a sign. Abbey of St. Walburga. I pass it at first because I was doing about 65 mph so I slow down and turn around, heading back to the main gate. I tried to Google the abbey to learn more about it but as luck would have it Google wasn't cooperating. Perhaps she was out to lunch.
I pull in and drive back into the abbey grounds. It was a Roman Catholic Benedictine abbey full of welcoming and warmhearted nuns. What a delight. I explored the abbey, the chapel, the gift store, and the grounds. The nuns gifted me with a handmade rosary. What a treasure and what a lovely place.
I had complained to a friend about my seeming misadventure with Google before I found the abbey. He suggested Google knows me and he's probably right. However you look at it, is was a serendipitous event and I was glad for it.
After the that I headed into Wyoming. I was still coming off my happy high from my visit to the abbey when I rolled into Laramie. My thoughts immediately turned toward Matthew Shepard, a young man who was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and beaten and left for dead for being gay. If you'll click on his name it will take you to a link about him where you can learn more. You owe it to yourself to lean about Matt if you don't know much or anything about him.
My thoughts were consumed by the seeming juxtaposition of my visits that morning within the context of just having watched the movie Milk the night before. The horror of homophobia and fundamentalism swirled in my mind for sometime as I drove. I know it's not popular to say these days but Matthew remains in my thoughts and prayers as do the sisters from the abbey.
Wyoming was amazing. It was a beautiful crisp and clear spring day and everything that could be green was. The vistas were simply breath taking. I drove through several sporadic sunny rain showers but after one in particular the heavy scent of fresh sage filled the Kraken. It was glorious to say the least. It felt and smelled like a vapor smudging and it helped to clear my mind of the lingering sadness over my trip through Laramie. Its freshness and clarity reminded me of hope and in the words of Harvey Milk, "You've gotta give them hope!"
It was a wonderful day in #VanLife and one I won't soon forget.
I spent the yesterday evening and today in Colorado Springs with a dear friend. He lives in a fifth wheel in an RV park and so I was able to park the Kraken in his driveway and boondock there. He gave me the code to use the bathroom facilities which allowed me my first shower in 15 days. You would think I would be excited about that but not really. It was pleasant enough but honestly I haven't missed it so much. That's a huge shocker for me but it's the truth.
In my day and a half here we took to trips to Walmart and hiked a bit behind the RV park where he lives. Most of the time we spent catching up and chatting. I did turn him on to pita and Creama Kasa cheese and we enjoyed a couple of salads and washed it all down with a blended wine. It was good company and good food. The nights were cool and sleeping in the Kraken continues to be a great delight.
Earlier this evening we watched The Last Jedi. The most redeeming thing about the film was the filming on Skellig Michael of the Celtic Monks beehive huts. Other than that, I thought it was the weakest film in the Star Wars franchise.
I finished my evening with the movie, Milk, about a gay Jedi, Harvey Milk who would have turned 88 today had he lived to do so. Instead he was murdered by a homophobic bigot and the rest is history. He was a powerful Jedi in the resistance in which many of us continue. He is a giant in the movement for equal rights for LGBT folk. I watch the movie on his birthday every year and the anniversary of his assassination. It was much better than The Last Jedi to be sure.
