Lane Core examines the lessons from what many consider the finest Star Trek episode ever as they apply to the War on Terror. I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong. It is not a nerdy way of looking at the world. Read the essay and understand what Lane is trying to say: difficult decisions with seemingly tragic immediate results are made to prevent real tragedy and loss.
We can be, far too often, like a man who walks in fog along the edge of a cliff. When the sun burns away the fog, he can see that he was walking in danger all the while, that a small misstep could have sent him hurtling down, that another path would have been safer. Or, that he had been missing the beautiful vista opening before him across the valley. Or, perhaps, both.
So for an individual; so also for a nation and a civilization.
The fog burned away in the bright sunshine of a late summer morning, a year and a half ago, when malice used airplanes as missiles, destroying buildings, killing thousands of innocent, unsuspecting civilians, and bringing grief to many, many more. And changing the course of history.
Just read the whole thing.
