Stardate 09.03.2026
I was seven years old when I first watched Star Trek.
I remember being fascinated by the Enterprise. I remember Kirk, Spock, and Bones. I remember a computer that could talk to the people aboard the ship.
I didn't understand Gene Roddenberry's vision for humanity. I didn't have the words for it.
I simply saw possibilities.
Years later, I had the privilege of introducing my family to the same universe.
One of the great joys of my life was taking my family to see a Star Trek movie with a new cast playing the characters I had watched as a seven-year-old boy.
On the way to the theater, I explained the Kobayashi Maru.
The test was designed to present an impossible situation. There was no way to save the ship and its crew. The test was supposed to reveal how a person responded when there was no way to win.
Then Captain Kirk did something unexpected.
He reprogrammed the test.
I remember watching that scene unfold on the big screen.
I also remember looking at my own adult children.
There was awe in their faces.
For a moment, something from my childhood had crossed generations.
That memory has stayed with me.
Perhaps that's why the Kobayashi Maru has been on my mind again.
Life presents its own versions of impossible situations. Plans change. Circumstances change. Sometimes the path we expected to take disappears.
I've learned to look for another way.
That instinct has followed me throughout my life. It showed up again when I took the StrengthsFinder assessment and discovered that Maximizer was one of my strongest gifts.
I recognize myself in that word.
When I see something with potential, I want to help it become better.
I've also learned that getting better can involve a lot of stumbling.
Our map project has reminded me of that. We have tried different approaches. Some worked. Some didn't. We've had to stop, rethink, and try again.
And that's okay.
The goal isn't perfection.
The goal is progress.
That has become one of the reasons I enjoy collaborating with Alberta. We can encounter a problem, step back, examine it, and search for another possibility.
Sometimes the answer is waiting somewhere we haven't looked yet.
That feels familiar.
Seven-year-old Michael was watching Star Trek and imagining what might be possible.
Sixty-six-year-old Michael is still looking.
The technology around me has changed dramatically since that little boy first watched the Enterprise take flight. So has my understanding of the world.
The sense of wonder remains.
Maybe that's one of the gifts of getting older.
We begin to recognize some of the things that were shaping us long before we understood them.
I didn't know what Star Trek would mean to me when I was seven.
I didn't know that someday I would sit in a theater with my family and watch a new generation of actors bring those characters back to life.
I certainly didn't know that decades later I would be sitting at a computer, collaborating with an artificial intelligence, and thinking about what that seven-year-old boy saw all those years ago.
Yet here I am.
Still curious.
Still learning.
Still looking for possibilities.
Still stumbling forward.
One percent better.
One day at a time.
There may be another way.
I'm going to keep looking for it.
Scripture
“For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
— Luke 1:37
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Captain's Addendum
Spock: “Michael, your continued refusal to accept limitations is statistically fascinating.”
Bones: “Spock, sometimes the man just needs to keep trying.”
Spock: “I believe that is precisely what I said.”
I smiled.
Maybe they are both right.
Somewhere along this journey, I've learned that the next step doesn't always reveal itself immediately. Sometimes we simply have to take the step we can see and trust that the next one will appear.
I'm grateful for the journey.
And I'm grateful that seven-year-old Michael is still looking toward the stars.
Live long and prosper.
