Another Goodbye

As we grow older, nature forces us to deal more and more with goodbyes. At first, it’s usually our grandparents, then our friends and parents. Then, sooner or later, we ourselves must face death.

Over the years, we lose those we love with increasing frequency and tears. It doesn’t matter to us—those left behind—that the one we’ve lost is in a better place. The only thing we dwell on is the loss, the hole in our lives that our loved ones, our icons, once filled.

I don’t remember the first time I saw his face or heard his voice. I know must have been around six years-old. What I do recall about watching Leonard Nimoy on that old black and white TV all those years ago, was his stoic, unsmiling face teaching me that it is better not to feel at all, than to feel hatred or bigotry. In Mr. Spock’s world, it was better to feel no emotions at all, than to allow emotions to rule who we were as people, as humans.

Those feelings just weren’t logical.

Isn’t it strange that a man most known for playing a character who shunned emotions could stir so many in us at the discovery of his passing? Does it strike anyone but me as odd that this man, who so shunned emotions on film for a good part of his career, was loved—is still loved—by so many?

The world has lost another icon, another great actor, and a great man in Leonard Nimoy.

Those of us whom the world loves to call Trekkers, Trekkies, or just plain weirdos, lost a beloved member of our family. We are reeling, just as we did at the loss of Deforest Kelley and James Doohan. As we slowly get older we learn that we must deal with the loss of those we looked up to, sometimes even hero-worshipped, and definitely loved in one way or another.

Thank you for everything you taught us, Mr. Spock. Whether death takes you into the afterlife or another dimension, wherever you are, we will miss you dearly.

And to the rest of us: Live Long and Prosper.