Stardate 01.23.2026
Do you ever wonder why we humans fight so much?
I have a feeling it often comes from something very simple: our desire to belong. No one wants to be left out — yet fitting in doesn’t always come easily.
As a kid, I was often the last one picked for sports. I was short, skinny, and not particularly athletic. At recess, I learned a survival strategy on the soccer field: I stationed myself near the goalpost. If the ball drifted my way, I could kick it in without moving more than a step or two. As Spock might say, “Highly efficient.”
While everyone else ran up and down the field building endurance, I was quite content guarding my little corner of the pitch.
That desire to belong doesn’t fade with age.
I once heard an interesting story from the set of Planet of the Apes. The actors didn’t have time to remove their ape makeup during lunch breaks. Over time, something curious happened — they began sitting with others wearing the same type of ape costume instead of their usual friends. Without intending to, they formed tribes.
We do the same thing.
In real life, we tend to congregate with people who think like us, worship like us, vote like us, or play the same sports we do. Even when we have friends across those lines, stepping outside our “tribe” can make others uncomfortable. One of my tennis teammates jokes that I sometimes go to the “dark side” when I play pickleball with my family. I happen to enjoy both — even though there’s a surprising amount of friction between those camps.
Over the next year, my quiet goal is to help bridge some of these gaps.
The closer I look at people with different viewpoints, the more I realize how much we actually share. We’re not as divided as we appear. Sometimes we just need the courage to see past the Planet of the Apes gear we’ve all learned to wear.
Scripture for the Journey
“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body.”
— Romans 12:4–5
Captain’s Addendum 🖖
Bones: “Jim— I mean, Michael — you’re saying humans aren’t that different from apes in makeup?”
Spock: “Doctor, logic suggests costumes merely amplify what already exists beneath the surface.”
Michael: “That’s what I’m learning. When we stop defending our uniforms, we start recognizing each other as teammates.”
Mission Reflection
Thank you for walking alongside me as I learn — slowly, imperfectly — how to listen more and label less. My hope is that this reflection encourages you to notice where quiet bridges might already be forming in your own life.
🖖 Live long. Prosper in purpose. Walk boldly in divine love.
