Trekker's Short Trek

 William Shatner, a Star Trek chief, had his turn to go into space, however, brief and costly. He's ninety. Frankly, like you, I wondered if he'd come back alive. Not only did he do that, he made more sense than any of the others, much younger, when he stepped back onto this planet. When I learned that he was going to make this rather silly adventure, the ultimate circus ride, I thought "here we go again, having to abide another rich man's nonsense". But, not so, his comments were quite profound. While the other uniformed passengers, as they called them, rather than super circus fair riders, The Captain's remarks were almost ignored by the host, the provender of these delights, but Shatner kept his cool and said what he saw reminded him of  the frailty of life, its brief nature and its value being so.  He remarked on the seeming instantaneous passing from our life-giving atmosphere into that of a dead black emptiness in outer space. His impressions were profound, making a great deal of sense when one thinks of how important the relatively thin bit of oxygenated air we enjoy is taken for granted.  He stated that he saw from far above perhaps only fifty miles above our thin blue band, and what a beautiful home earth is and that he finally saw the difference between life and death. He wondered if the blackness of space could be compared to death, while the blue of the earth may represent life. He asked, "Is the blackness of space, what death is like?" I am not a Star Trek fan particularly, but I did very much enjoy the show's episodes and the imaginations of those who created them. Nothing is more entertaining than seeing presented,  a different place and different events on which to stretch our imaginations to and beyond their limits. Star Trek did this. On watching the ten or so minutes of this real voyage into space, a fully commercial flippant toy for the rich, while at the same time, a possibly lethal choice, I couldn't entirely dismiss it as shallow.  Even though it is the apogee of silly. The incredibly rich do silly things and we love to watch them because, hey, they are putting themselves into it. Not us. It's much safer and way cheaper to be ordinary and we must be kind of grateful for those who go on these flights and help stimulate our incredible and impossible ambitions. What I felt when I saw William Shatner tear up as he commented on his rapid upsy downsy flight into space, was a closeness for the man. He isn't a lot older than I am, and I congratulate him for the physical toll that it must have taken for making this adventure. The others with him, were much younger and when they touched down and got out of the tiny close cabin that brought them safely back, they jumped out and clutched their groupies with yells and whoops and champagne flying about. None of them seemed deeply affected with serious thoughts. At least not yet. That will come to them later but Mr. Shatner didn't fall into the celebrity whoohah trap. He had something serious to say about it and even his host at one point, said the camera, was distracted and turned  to the other foolishness going on while Shatner was broken off mid-sentence, still evidently more deeply affected at what had just happened while the others were jumping about in excitement.  I was most impressed by this man, not his celebrity, but his thoughtful comments that make him the truly great person he must be. Good on yuh Mr. Shatner. Welcome home!