Captain Skaro to the Rescue!

Pinky: Look sir, it's Captain Skaro!
Captain Skaro: That's right, Pinky, and as my primary task is to defend those in need, I'm ordering you to disarm your weapons.
Supreme Dalek: Don't listen to him, Pinky.  That monster represents a clear and present danger.
Captain Skaro: Just because someone's different from you doesn't make that person an enemy.  For example, Steggy here is really a nice guy, once you get to know him.
Supreme Dalek: All right.  Pinky, stand down.
Pinky: Stand down, sir?  How exactly do I do that?  I don't have feet, or flexible joints, or--
Supreme Dalek: You know what I mean!

Captain Skaro: Thank you, Supreme Dalek.  Steggy may be larger than you, but he's a gentle giant, and as his brain is not capable of processing vast amounts of information like us, he actually needs our protection.  
Pinky: Why is he stepping closer to me?
Captain Skaro: He wants to smell you. 
Pinky: Um, does he really have to get closer?  Are his olfactory sensors defective?  
Supreme Dalek: I agree; my risk assessment indicators suggest it's safer to shoot him.  But if you can't trust Captain Skaro, who can a Dalek trust?

Captain Skaro: Exactly.  If you desire the friendship and protection of others, you must be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, and accept them for who they are.  
Dalek Supreme: Daleks are not big on trust.
Captain Skaro: Yes, and that weakness has not helped our public image, has it?

Pinky: That's it?  He startles us, smells us, and then wanders off?
Captain Skaro: He's a free spirit, but a friendly one.
Dalek Supreme: That seems insufficient reward for risking injury or extermination.
Captain Skaro: As Daleks, we always want instant results, and to win every encounter.  But through befriending others, we enrich ourselves, and make Earth, our adoptive planet, a better place in inhabit.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll accompany Steggy for the rest of his walk today....just in case.
Pinky: I think Captain Skaro is cool.  Do you think he'll join our troop?
Dalek Supreme: He seems well-intentioned, but he's a radical, Pinky. His ideas are just too extreme for our group.  
Pinky: You mean he wouldn't conform to your leadership?
Dalek Supreme: What do you mean by that?
Pinky: Oh, nothing...sir.

Captain Skaro: Remember, Daleks everywhere, the person you see as your rival or enemy might one day prove your greatest friend, and assist you in a time of crisis.  But if you exterminate him now, he can't be there for you later on, can he?  Stand up for friendship, and you'll win the war on loneliness and alienation!   

Dragon Dave

Sheldon Cooper Loves Trains

While Sheldon Cooper on "The Big Bang Theory" is incredibly smart, he’s still childlike in many ways.  When his friend Leonard hosts a Christmas-themed Dungeons & Dragons night, Sheldon ruins the game by locking up Santa Claus and throwing away the key.  It seems that one year Sheldon asked Santa to resurrect a loved one, and when this didn’t happen, he held a grudge that he’s never relinquished.

It thus comes as a shock to him when Santa appears in his living room.  Despite his hateful actions, Sheldon nonetheless expects Santa to give him something he’d really like.  His eyes light up at the thought that Santa might give him a train set.  They blaze when he thinks that Santa might even go further, and give him two or three.  Instead, Santa repays his hurtful act by lighting a canon and blowing Sheldon away.  Even in our dreams, it seems that justice still rules.

Often, the limitations of those around me bother me more than my own.  I find myself surrounded by people who speak or act unkindly, show less sensitivity toward my needs than they could, or display no desire to repay the  kindnesses I have bestowed on them.  I know, to a certain extent, that this is merely justice repaying my own past unkindnesses, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity.  Yet it can be so easy to excuse my own limitations, while blaming others for theirs. 

As Stephen R. Covey said in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I can choose to act, or be acted upon.  I can choose to model myself on the person I wish to be, or I can allow others’ defects and limitations to define me.  I know who I want to be: giving, caring, and forward-looking.  I do not wish my actions to be dictated by previous injustices, but empowered by the ideals I wish to embody, and the world I desire to inhabit. 

In "The Big Bang Theory," Sheldon Cooper doesn’t engage in friendships so much as he forges contracts defining acceptable actions and behaviors with those in his life.  In this way, he limits the actions of others, while maximizing his own freedom.  Should a friend or roommate violate such an agreement, this will allow Sheldon to perpetrate any act of nastiness or cruelty necessary to correct the other’s behavior, and thus realign the scales of justice. 

Although it may not have been my intention, I know that at times my words, deeds, or perhaps even my lack of action have hurt and disappointed others.  So I can understand when others repay my evil with their own.  That’s bottom-line Human interaction: "An eye for an eye."  Often I find myself viewing and interacting with others in such basic terms.  But on the whole, I aspire to mature beyond such a childlike mindset, to be more adult than that, to trade in mercy and grace rather than justice. 

To give others trains, even if they don’t deserve them.

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries

Stephen Hawking and “The Big Bang Theory”

A Real-Life Hobbit

My mother and our friend frequent a particular Denny’s.  They travel there to see a waitress they have befriended.  She looks after them well, and they only go there when she’s working.  They exchange Christmas cards and gifts with her, and one year, when we were spending Christmas with them, we attended a Christmas Eve service at her church.  I’m not sure that my wife and I ever hoped to forge such a strong relationship with the staff at our local Denny’s, but we found one waiter we always looked forward to seeing.  I can only wonder at what might have developed, had the manager chosen to value us as well, instead of making us feel unwanted.

My mother had told me that they would be collecting The Hobbit cards for me at Denny’s, and the first night of their visit, she handed me an envelope.  I opened it to find a thick stack of cards.  I hurriedly dug out my own cards, and went through her stack.  Although she had many that were the same as mine, in some cases multiple examples, I ended up with three new cards.  This meant that I had nine out of the ten regular cards.  As I had never hoped to receive one of the two Limited Edition cards, I only needed one more to complete my set.  If I didn’t get it, I figured nine out of ten was pretty good.  More importantly, I had Bilbo Baggins, who along with Gandalf, are the two characters from the novel that mean the most to me.

The dwarves Balin and Fili,
and my first hobbit friend, Bilbo Baggins,
have graced my humble home. 

Of course, the cards are really just something fun to collect.  So, although we thought of dining at a Denny’s while in Florida, we opted for restaurants we couldn’t visit as easily back home.  But on Christmas Eve, when my mother offered to take us out to lunch at Denny’s, I didn’t complain.  I figured they would most likely be out of packs, as the movie had been out in theaters for a while.  Still, I held out hope of getting that final card.

We selected another Denny’s within easy driving distance.  Our waiter laughed and joked with us as he took our order.  My mother and friend asked about the cards, and explained that I had nearly completed my set.  Although he didn’t seem to think they had any left, he promised to look.  We ordered three meals off The Hobbit menu, and midway through our lunch, he came by and solemnly placed a pack of cards before me.  “I scrounged up a final pack for you,” he told me.  I thanked him, grateful that he had searched on my behalf.  Then he reached into a pocket and withdrew another packet.  “Don’t tell anyone, but I took these from my own collection.”  My eyes widened: I hadn’t asked him to do that!  Staring down at me so somberly, he dug into his pocket one final time…and withdrew a third pack of cards.  “Ha ha, there you are my friend,” he announced.  Bursting into laughter, he bent down, clutching his fists, and did a little dance.  “I’m looking forward to seeing what cards you get,” he told me, when his merriment subsided.  I started to open one pack.  He laid a hand on my shoulder.  “No, wait, enjoy your meal first,” he told me.

After we finished eating, I opened the packs, and he leaned close to watch.  The first pack, and then the second, contained only cards I already possessed.  Then, on the third, I got a Limited Edition Frodo card.  I lifted both hands into the air in celebration, and he cheered with me, laughing, clutching his hands into fists, and doing his little dance again.  When we rose to leave, my mother asked him if he would be there in a couple weeks.  He asked, “What happens then, another prediction from Nostradamus that the world will end?” and laughed again.  “No, my son’s having his birthday,” my mother replied.  “Come in, and I’ll give you a really nice breakfast,” he told me.  “And I’ll keep an eye out for those two last cards you need.”

Getting that Limited Edition card certainly took me by surprise.  The food at Denny’s tasted great, and thanks to his attentive service and jovial attitude, dining there with my mother and our friend proved a pleasant and memorable experience.  Is it too much to hope that we might forge a relationship with this particular restaurant, and become friends with this kind and considerate waiter?  He might not burst into song while he serves us, or juggle plates and cups with skill and panache, but he seems like someone I’d like to know better.  Perhaps, even befriend.

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries

The Return of the Hobbit: Part 2

A Tale of Two Quests

The Relationship Between Birds & People

It's easy to ignore birds.  After all, there’s so many of them.  They look, act, and sound different from you.  Some have strange personalities.  Others seems so immature.  They seem so needy, always hungry for the least bit of attention you might provide.  And even if they speak your language, they can't make intelligent conversation.  They couldn't possibly understand your needs, or meet them in a meaningful way.

 Royal Tern

Black Skimmer

Great Blue Heron

 Pelican

They're a bit like people, I suppose.

Or are people like birds? 

Dragon Dave