Dear Mr. Takei,

Dear Mr. Takei,

Sir, this letter is reaching out to you as a thank you. I am a fan. I love Star Trek and I have watched you my whole life. I remember seeing you in Green Beret. I even met you once. Many years ago, you came to AVON, Colorado, and did a dramatic reading from the Hobbit or one of the other Tolkien works. At that time, I was a police officer. I was there on my day off with my wife but took a chance that I could get backstage because I knew the officers who were working the venue. It turns out that there wasn’t any security, and I was able to walk backstage and meet you. I know you don’t remember this, but your eyeglasses broke, and I was one of the people who ended up helping you with getting them fixed so you could go on stage.

We had a really good conversation. I told you that I was reading novels that had been written by William Shatner. And you told me that William Shatner didn’t write the books. It took me many years to comprehend how that system worked.

We did not get to know each other like old friends or anything, but I do remember that day fondly and treasure it. Living in this valley, which is known to the world as where Vail is, brings with it a brush with celebrity quite often. I have brushed elbows with other famous people here and there, but none as casual and personal as that day.

So first, I want to say thank you as a fan to you for being so gracious.

As a fan of Star Trek, I continue to absorb all I can about the franchise and try to live to the ideals set in the shows. I am not always capable but struggle to do the best I can.

I am no longer a police officer and have found work in a different area, but the current times with law enforcement make me reflect on what kind of a police officer I was and how I would do the job now if I was still a police officer.

My daughter was very young when I met you, and since then has grown up to be a fine young woman and is now 35 years old. She is LGBTQ+ and half Hispanic on her mother’s side. She is married to the daughter of a refugee immigrant from Vietnam.

I reflect on how happy she is and admire her level of success. She owns her own home. She is an executive chef at a restaurant and was formerly a sous chef at a very big restaurant chain that specialized in high-end sushi.

I grew up in the South, and racism and other prejudice were a part of my life. It was a part of everyone’s life and still is. I am listening to a podcast right now that you did in 2015 for Mission Log. I am listening to you talk about your life as an actor, your life in politics, your life as an activist, and your life as a gay man. It strikes me that you had so many things stacked against you in your life, yet you seem happy and are definitely successful, and you always seemed to try to make the world a better place for those around you.

I am writing this as a thank you. My daughter has been able to do in her life with very few obstacles. There are plenty of obstacles out there still, but mostly she has seen them from afar. This is very much because of people like you who have gotten out there and made the world better for those around them. Made better by not being quiet and not ruling over and accepting the status quo. Made better by fighting for what is right.

Sadly, I have not been able to get my daughter to jump into the Star Trek fandom like I have, but she has watched some of Discovery. Discovery, perhaps more than some of the other shows, has put some of today’s problems right up front.

This is not to say that your show did not. It’s just that Discovery is from today and is reflecting a little more of today in a language that people of today relate to.

It would probably be hard for me to say, “Let’s watch your show,” and while I am admiring the statement being made about the futility of war, the inappropriateness of racial prejudice, and the positive outlook on the future, but at the same time ignoring some of the sexist-seeming views on the show. I’m not trying to call out your show; I’m just saying that to eyes that were born in the 90s, it is hard to watch any show from the 60s and say how advanced it is without trying to make someone from today feel like they are worse off than they were in the 50s or 40s. My daughter will hopefully never know what it’s like to be locked up in an internment camp or told she can’t marry the woman she loves or can’t get a house loan or be a manager because of people like you who have fought that fight already.

The fight continues and it probably always will. There will be a time when the problems we have today will be a distant memory, but new problems will always present themselves. To wrap this up, I just want to say thank you again for being who you are, for fighting for people whom you’ve never met, for doing the right thing even though it might not be the best thing for you or your career, and not least of all entertaining me and showing me that it’s not that hard to be on the side of what is right.

Now you may guess, that I have not always been on the same side of politics as you are and we may not agree on everything but my eyes have been opened and in 2016 I could not stand idly by and back someone into higher office that I could not trust around my family let alone his politics. And now he has been reelected and is proving to be the worst thing that this country has allowed in my lifetime.

This made me examine a lot of things in my life not the least of which how my actions will look to someone in the future if they only know a few things about me. So now I am much more vocal about things that I think I’m wrong even if it isn’t a popular opinion. Almost all of my family lives back in North Carolina and are on the right. This sometimes makes family reunions a bit awkward. That is OK, because I know that I can have Family that has opinions other than mine and I can still love them but then I can return and fight for what is right. I can also tell my family what my opinion is in back it up and hopefully get them to see how good the world can be.

It is not necessarily the goal that is important but the journey, the struggle to reach the goal. One may not ever reach it but one may continue to fight for it all his days. Realize this, you are appreciated and loved by many.

Sincerely and with deepest regards, David Proctor