“Mirror, Mirror”

Is it me, or does it feel a little “Star Trek” lately?

You'll be unsurprised to learn I draw connections between "ST" and psychedelics in "Fatherland." Is it because I spent every single weekday evening of my childhood glued to Channel 20, watching reruns of the original (and only) "ST"? Or was there actually something forward-thinking and true about the show?

If you’ll recall, several episodes feature the “Mirror Universe” phenomenon, in which the Enterprise and its crew enter an interzone between parallel worlds. For brief moments, they exist in both. And what they find there is deeply unsettling.

In the first of these episodes—“Mirror, Mirror,” S.2 E.4—Kirk, Scott, McCoy and Uhuru are sent by a transporter malfunction (ALWAYS the transporter) to an alternate Enterprise. They find a savage and cutthroat world: Intrigue and assassination are the means of advancement; all the crew are always armed.

These last weeks, I’ve had the distinct sense I’m sliding between two worlds, too. The first is the one I did my best to fit into (but never really could): The one where I had a job, dreamed of being recognized as a “writer”, worried about normal things (should I focus on my “career”? should I push my kid to try out for soccer?).

Then there’s the one that’s dawning, right before us: One in which literally everything—our climate, our government, our physical and mental health—is breaking down in real time.

Is it scary? Yes. But here’s what I’m chewing on: The "different" ones—those of us who felt alienated as kids, who saw that what we were told about how life worked wasn’t really true—have always known this was coming. That sooner than later, the lights were going to click on, and that they would be harsh.

Here’s what I want to share: I'm so grateful for the chance to have plumbed my backstory. Now: What to do with this self-knowing? It’s time to step into this new world, because it is here. It's time to recognize that we all have everything we need, that those of us who fear they're not "healed" or "ready" know they're healed enough.

Like it or not, we were made for this. We need each other. Let's not forget our humanity, our strength, our hope.