Ok, so, I’m watching Star Trek, the original, and it is Season 1 episode 22, I know some of my friends will know what episode that is.
It is a pivotal episode and is even continued in the Star Trek movies. Space Seed, Khan to be exact. The one, the only, Ricardo Montalban, is a revelation playing this character. This was way before he was Mr. Roarke, he was Khan, he was forceful, he was magnificent to watch and yes, incredibly macho.
As I watch this episode with the eyes of an adult woman, I am struck by how the character Lt. Marla McGivers behaves. She is a historian, so she is besotted by Khan and the whole gang of people out of time.
So much so she initially betrays her own captain and crew, even when Khan is clearly abusive and manipulative towards her.
It begs the question, have we, as women, evolved from that behavior?
I would like to think so, however, I have seen too many women fall for this type of man. Full of himself, full of bravado, only in it for himself, not the betterment of others. He thinks only of the next conquest, whether it be women, sports, even conquering his other male friends.
We have to be better than this, we have to look for the signs of abusive behavior. Isolating women from their loved ones, getting them to betray their own social circles.
Thankfully I am too old to be caught in that web, and quite frankly I am way too stubborn and self involved. I am well aware of who I am as a human, as a woman, wait, am I human? I don’t even know anymore, due to the fact that humanity as a whole has gone off the rails.
I digress, if we see a woman walking down that path do we owe it to all women to tell her to watch out. Be careful, you are walking down a destructive road and you deserve better.
I have been in that position and have told other women, stop, take a look, be careful, get out. You deserve better, I have told male friends that as well.
Manipulation isn’t just for males, not by a long shot, I have seen the opposite as well. Abusive, manipulative women, who will do anything to get their way. Even if it means walking over their own children to get there.
When will we, as a society, learn to stop these destructive behaviors? I often wonder, when seeing certain music videos, hearing the lyrics of certain songs, and seeing the behavior on social media, are we regressing?
Then I see my own daughter, daughters-in-law, sons, granddaughter, bonus grandchildren and I am hopeful.
I am also hopeful when I see younger generations on social media not falling for what is clearly destruction. Going above and beyond to help others, not tear them down, not destroy.
Take care people, the younger generations learn from the ones that came before them. I hope I have set a good example for the ones younger than I. You don’t have to step, shove or annihilate anyone to get ahead in life. You can be strong and nice at the same time.
I don’t always succeed at the nice thing, I tend to be a little more brash, like my dad, he was so blunt in his honesty. I wish I had gotten more of my mom’s gentleness. Alas it was not to be, here I am, too old to change now, I don’t know that I would want to.
I would love to know others experiences in this world, please feel free to leave any comments, questions or criticisms here or if you wish to remain anonymous you can send them to me at angie@angieworld.com.
Angie World 