Spock on "Fitting In"

[Ryoma Hoshino]

This is a really nice little piece I found on /r/StarTrek - Leonard Nimoy replies to a mixed race teenage girl who asks Spock about her difficulties fitting in: http://www.buzzfeed.com/leonoraepstein/spocks-advice-to-a-teenage-girl-will-make-you-cry

[spock] replaced the idea of wanting to be liked with the idea of becoming accomplished. Instead of being interested in becoming popular, he became interested in being intelligent. And instead of wanting to be powerful, he became interested in being useful.

He said to himself: 'Not everyone will like me. But there will be some who accept me just for what I am.'

Worth a read.

[T'Mihn]

Great piece. Wonder where she is now and how it affected her?

[Sakorra Jefferson Reed]

I like that. I often feel like an outcast, even among my own family. It hurts when I feel like I'm not liked, and I have to remember that I have beliefs that don't line up with theirs. I have things about me that they hate, and I'm constantly worried about stepping on toes or being diplomatic. But why? Why can't I just be me? If they don't like it, who cares? They aren't trying to not step on my toes or be diplomatic, either. Seeking true wisdom, searching out information. I always thought I'd go the way of intelligence, but I got into a rut. Perhaps, I should go that way again. That way, if people say they hate me, I can just say, "Ok, at least I'm smarter than you." But maybe that seems condescendingly stuck up?

[T'Mihn]

Sakkora, I know exactly where you are coming from, for I face the same dilemma with my family, and some friends. They mock and malign my beliefs yet they practice things that is obviously destructive to their minds, bodies,and keeps them from obtaining the peace they desperatly

seek.

[Evan Delano]

I grew up as a member of the LDS (Mormon) Church in the middle of the so-called Utah bubble. After I stopped believing and eventually left, I moved to the Midwest and have a difficult time balancing the sensibilities and values with which I was raised with those of a new culture. Nimoy's response here is pretty indicative of my own eventual conclusion: Be the person you want to be, not the one others expect you to be.

[Kevin Marks]

I'm a trekkie otaku gamer... I pretty much live on the Island of Misfit Toys and I like it here. It's quiet and nobody bugs me for stuff. ^_^

[T'Mihn]

LOL@ Kevin.

Elias, its amazing how much pressure folks will put on each other. The rules and burdens not realizing that the yoke we should carry isn't burdensome nor heavy. Its actually easy. I'm not LDS, just a vessel. A simple person making my way through the galaxy.

We treat others kindly, out comes back, not always immediately.

I appreciated that article, I like how he used Spock as a touchstone to communicate with the young person, conveying how hard it was to be of two worlds.