I’m a Trekkie.

Yep, it’s true. I’m sure this is actually not a surprise. Many nerds like me are Trekkies.

When a colleague asked what a split infinitive was I ran out of my office cubicle and exclaimed, “To boldly go where no one has gone before!!!” I then had to actually explain the grammar concept, but the opening lines from Star Trek are the most famous split infinitive. (It means that there is an adverb between the infinitive form of the verb, “to go.”)

That’s not the only thing I love, though.

My husband Steve and I have been re-watching the “new-ish” Star Trek series which are all available on Netflix. We got absorbed in Deep Space 9 first this time, and then we moved on to Voyager. We are now just about done re-watching all of The Next Generation.

I look forward each night to the next episode because Star Trek represents the best of our society – as best as we knew it at the time that the show was written and filmed.

(I have not been able to watch the most recent series because I refuse to pay for yet another streaming service. Also, not a big fan of the movies. But, I don’t like movies anyway.)

The original series is not one that I’ll go back and binge watch, admittedly. But, they had Uhura, an African-American woman on TV in the 1960s. She had a technical job and even an on screen kiss with Sulu, an Asian-American crew member. And, they had Spock, the calm, truthful Vulcan who showed us that logic was enlightening.

But, my favorites, The Next Generation (TNG), Deep Space 9 (DS9), and Voyager really dig in and show us what’s good about us.

TNG has a Klingon crew member. In the original series, the Klingon were sworn enemies of the Federation. But, by the time we got to TNG, we were at peace with them. There is also a significant amount of diversity among the crew members, not as much as the later series would have, but it certainly shows us that we, too, can get better and embrace diversity.

On episodes of TNG, they also work to save life forms even if they don’t understand them. They take risks to care for beings that they don’t always understand, including those beings that potentially could do harm to the crew and the ship.

DS9 increased the level of diversity, with more and more crew members who weren’t humans, along with appearances nearly each week from new species. Ferengis were seen as enemies in TNG, but by the time we got to DS9, they, too were more accepted. In fact, spoiler alert, by the end of DS9 a Ferengi was admitted to Starfleet Academy.

Voyager gave us our first female captain. Yes, even in the future it took this long. It’s worth remembering, though, that even when we portray the future, we are really holding up a mirror to ourselves. Star Trek gives us our best selves.

I want to go to a place where diversity is prized, where alien races and beings are valued, and where our best selves are held up and honored.

Tonight, we’re watching an episode of TNG from season 7. I’ll be there.