Sometimes the obvious sits before us, peacefully waiting unopened like some holiday gift. Part of the fun - maybe a big part of the fun - of any gift is its anticipation. A better part however is that bright moment realizing the gift right before us is ours! And sometimes in a place we're not used to looking.

For the longest time the disposition of our kind towards its potential was to ignore it. In a universe made up of stories (so they say), tale-telling pointed firmly to the past, highlighting heroes who long, long ago (if not far, far away) set the standards of behavior today's folk were to emulate. The reason things were good now, it was argued, was that these others had done right back then. Were we to replicate their behavior, our continued prosperity was assured! Yesterday's mythology had a positive impact on self-perspective.

Then compare this to the sharp contrast of science fiction wherein most is pure dystopia. Distinctive dramas abound depicting humanity's downfall, turned road-hog or cannibal from overcrowding, running from dinosaurs or damned dirty apes, falling prey to vampires, giant scorpions, Sandmen or star-children - whatever you name it, it was bad. After our initial success touching the heavens things seemed bound to go wrong on earth - save for the few outstanding exceptions like Star Trek (quick - cite another.) After surviving world wars and sun-bombs our social mythos flipped its facing completely.

Why? I'm not sure but in better moments I suspect the planet now needed heroes of a kind never seen before, made up (like Soylent Green) of real people. This is the kind found in Roddenberry's presentation and in the persistent vision shared among its fans. The common denominator of Trek becomes one of outlook, of multitudes sharing an optimistic future. It isn't just the crews of those starships that reward our imagination but further that piece of our contemporary selves that we project into them. This is the premise for which we suspend our disbelief. (Judgement awaits those managing the enterprise these days, to the extent their vision may drift from the original.)

Citing one reason or another we celebrate at the solstice, joyously united that our days grow no shorter. As dim as the grim days grow we hold to our hope for tomorrow; a "Faith of the Heart" if you will and a calling to keep that seasonal spirit all year 'round. The best gift: one granted from ourselves to ourselves, connecting the past to the future. That's quite a present!