Value. Heart. Soul. Need.

I was reading recently about a couple that got married in a re-creation of the bridge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The entire wedding party were in dress uniform, and I believe that the minister was dressed like the President of the United Federation of Planets.

In the pictures, everybody is smiling. Huge big smiles.

And it made me smile, too.

But I began to wonder as to how two people sit down to discuss the beginnings of their lives together, and say, "Hey....you know what would be cool?"

I'm not judging here; I am a fan of Star Trek in all its incarnations. TV, film, animated series, books, graphic novels, old generation, new generation, space station, delta quadrant....I watched them all. And actually have several props, a tribble, a uniform of my own, and a teddy bear that's been assimilated into the Borg Collective. I made regular trips to the late, lamented Star Trek: The Experience at the Hilton in Vegas.

But I began to ponder the attraction of this story, and how people relate to it so much that they get married in its thematic wake, they have huge conventions every year, and they actually produce things like phasers and tricorders and uniforms that nuts like myself can buy.

I'm really painting myself into the nerd corner, aren't I?

Aside from my penchant for science fiction (and I'm not limited to Roddenberry; I was also fond of Babylon 5, and the works of Asimov, Bradbury, as well as the twin masters of Verne and Wells), I think the whole thing boils down to one simple thing.

We are looking for something better.

In this day and age, when the lines have been smeared a little, and the hats are no longer white and black and the ally we talk to in the morning is in possession of a TNT suppository when the sun goes down, we are desperately in need of heroes.

I would be the most unenlightened fool on the face of the planet if I didn't recognize that our heroes are all around us; I work with more than a few of them. I've seen the work when they didn't think I was watching, and I've seen them work in those shadows that are required in this day and age, but I can tell you it is something to see......

We need our heroes. We need white hats. We need selfless service and hi-yo silver and the man who walks in shadow and knows what evil lurks.

And that's why we are drawn to things like Star Trek, and characters like Horatio Caine and Horatio Hornblower; why we still read Sherlock Holmes and Perry Mason, and we root for Jack McCoy. Why we hope that our leaders take a page from Jed Bartlett; and why we all strive to be Cyrano.

We need justice in our happy endings; we need right to overcome wrong.

And I hope the next leap will be the leap home.