“The miracle is this: the more we share the more we have.”
Leonard Nimoy
RIP. March 26, 1931-February 28th 2015
Leonard Nimoy passed away today. He was known for his iconic role as half-Vulcan (stoic) and half-human first officer Spock on the USS Enterprise, in the science-fiction television series, Star Trek. And while usually the deaths of celebrities interests me little, for Mr. Nimoy and Mr. Spock, I have quite some admiration. Almost as much as I admired Ray Bradbury or Nellie Bly.
Star Trek was my introduction to science fiction as a child and to the idea of a world beyond Columbia, Missouri. It was the television show that made me think about life beyond earth, about different cultures, different races. Star Trek made me want to explore the world, discover new things, go places that I had never been before.
I also have one ear that’s naturally pointed. Kids would make fun of me for it. But when I saw Mr. Spock on the show, I felt, “I’m a quarter Vulcan. Cool.”
That right pointed ear is the only trace of my Vulcan ancestry.
Back in the days when we only had four TV channels to choose from, I used to stay up every Saturday until 10:30 pm just to watch the show. It’s why I started drinking coffee at the age of ten.
Death is the final frontier. Perhaps it is a voyage from which we return.
I wanted to be cool, calm, and brave like Mr. Spock. To explore new civilisations, to mind-meld, and use the Vulcan nerve pinch–but only when absolutely necessary, of course. We see ourselves in fictional characters sometimes. I always felt like I was a person struggling with a very angry human self and a logical rational Vulcan self. In affairs of the heart, Vulcan Madness sums it up for me too.
Vulcan madness. Pon Farr sucks.
I read both of Leonard Nimoy’s books. I AM NOT SPOCK (1975) and I AM SPOCK (1995). He’s actually very funny. And in the way he embraced the character he played, it made him transcend it.— “I am not Spock. But given the choice (of any TV character) I would choose Spock. I like him. I admire him. I respect him.”–Leonard Nimoy. So did I. I respected both of them. And man, I would love to have had Nimoy’s voice. Maybe in a few years. I learned today that the Vulcan salute was actually taken from Jewish mysticism—it was a stolen secret. It seems to explain its magic appeal.
Death is the final frontier but maybe it’s a voyage from which we return. One can hope.
Goodbye first officer Spock. Goodbye Mr. Nimoy. You lived long and prospered and so did we.
“The miracle is this: the more we share the more we have.”
Leonard Nimoy
This is the Jewish-Japanese-Two-Handed Vulcan Salute:
“Live long in peace and prosper.”
Japan Subculture Research Center Annex 