Earlier this week, David Borgenicht wrote an article in the Huffington Post called “7 Life Lessons You Can Learn from ‘Star Trek’.” Is it just me, or can his surname be translated into “Night of the Borg” in English?* [Hmm….admittedly, this colors my reading of his article.] Like David Borgenicht, I too am a Trekkie. I don’t have any collectibles and I haven’t gone to any conventions, but I have deep respect and affection for Gene Roddenberry (the creator of Star Trek) and his accomplishments on the small screen. So, when one of my friends shared this article with the Grand Overseer (Facebook), I was intrigued. And I wondered how the Pagan Princesses measured up according to these life lessons.

Star Trek / Star Wars mashup t-shirt. A peace offering from Jax and TheScott and now one of my favorite shirts!

[Full disclosure. Jax is not a Trekkie. She is a full-on, dyed-in-the-wookiee, Baldr-to-the-wall ‘Star Wars’ fan. Unlike other Trekkie / Wars fans, we do not sit around and banter insults about the value and validity of one versus the other. *phst* Well…not anymore. It was really cramping our friendship. We have agreed to disagree on this vital social issue.]

Anyway…back to Night of the Borg’s article. Here are the seven lessons and my thoughts on how TPP’s measure up:

  1. The best way to travel is to boldly go where no one has gone before. I think we can say we have boldy gone onto the interwebs. We certainly aren’t the first Pagans to travel there, but it took some commitment (quite a bit actually) on our part to start and continue our site. And quite a bit of chutzpa for us to fully “come out of the broom closet,” which you kind of have to do if you want your friends and family to read your blog about Paganism. ✔
  2. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few–or the one.** Gosh. This is very…utilitarian. And very Spock (whom I ❤ very much).*** There are only two Pagan Princesses. Well, there are thousands, surely, but only two that contribute to this blog. But there have been times where we have had to consider the mission of the site over personal expression. Or rather tailor (scale back or tone down) personal expression to fit the mission of the site — to promote a positive image of Paganism for Pagan and non-Pagan readers alike. Sometimes other Pagans do things that make us make a squinchy face. Sometimes non-Pagans do things that make us make furrowed brow face. We totally call people out on this site when they do things that make us make funny faces. But we have to do it in a way that attempts objectivity, education and resolution. And when you’re really ticked off about something, that’s not always easy to do. But we try! ✔

    Furrowed Brow Face, modeled by Jean-Luc Picard

    Squinchy Face, modeled by Jean-Luc Picard

  3. Expressing your emotions is a healthy thing. You know, Jax and I are actually shy wome….baw haw haw. I can’t finish that with a straight face. We started this blog with a party planning angle, a Pagan Martha Stewart if you will. But, we are both brassy broads with a lot to say and a forum to say it. So, I think we’ve got expressing ourselves down, too. ✔
  4. When estimating how long a job will take, overestimate–and when you do better your captain will always be impressed. We may need to work on this one. We both have deadlines we are supposed to meet (for editing and such). Jax is pretty good about meeting them. I stink at it. In fact, I’m late to most everything, so even if I say I will be early, I mean earlier than you should expect me — knowing that I’ll be late. –––
  5. Wearing red makes you a target. Well, crap. I have red hair, so there’s no avoiding this one for me. You might as well paint a target on my head. And plus, we both can rock a red dress like nobody’s business. But not with red shoes, that would be too much. ✘
  6. When you don’t know what to say, pause. Hmm…I can’t really think of anything to say on this one. But, obviously, that hasn’t stopped me to writing something. I’m gonna call this one a fail. ✘
  7. The most powerful force in the universe is friendship. Absolutely true. Absolutely TPP. (And Absolutely Fabulous, had to get that in there). I think we’ve done a good job of maintaining a friendship and a blog at the same time. Which isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do when you are editing your friend’s work and trying to present a singular voice on a website. Yay us! ✔

Four out of seven check marks. That’s not bad, is it? What about you readers? Do you like Star Trek? Do these seven lessons resonate with you? How do you measure up?

 

 

* Nicht is “night” in Scots. It’s also “not” in German, but Not of the Borg isn’t as funny.
** In the context of TPP, this resonates with me. But in a larger, social context, this doesn’t always ring true. As a constitutionalist, I believe preserving the rights of the few is equally important to preserving the rights of the many. I could go all sociologist on you right now, but I won’t. Just know this argument is a slippery slope, especially when you describe “many” as “majority” and “few” as “minority”. Majority and minority refer to the distribution of power in a social context, not a count of people. Okay. Whew. Stopping now.
*** And my attraction to emotionally unavailable men is explained. I’m just kidding. I grew out of that. I think. I hope!

+ Featured image, the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Series.