"Outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."
How strange the things that touch and define our lives.
As an actor Leonard Nimoy was...fairly or not...defined largely by one role. A role so big that it in fact came to define for most of the world his life.
I first encountered Star Trek in local reruns when I was 11 years old. An age when it always seems the world around you is changing...since few at that age are perceptive enough to see what is changing is actually us. Every single day seems a journey where no one has gone before.
And for a young boy struggling to deal with the strange and new emotions that constantly beset him Spock's every day struggle for emotional control spoke volumes. I felt...foolishly I'm sure...that I understood Spock's struggle and that he understood my own. He remains for me the most beloved of my fictional childhood friends.
Though those who know me can certainly attest that I did not choose the path of reason and logic...it can be safely stated that I am ruled much more by heart than head...I did appreciate Spock's comforting companionship along the way.
We are who we choose to be. In the end, I think that was the lesson I took from the highly logical Mr Spock and the highly talented actor who portrayed him. My thanks to you both.
And though I am certain that Mr Nimoy's physical presence will be dearly missed by those who personally knew and loved him for most of us he will never die. Endlessly resurrected when the distinctive opening notes of the theme song come up his work will live on for untold generations.
You have lived long and prospered. Now you boldly go where, in the end, all men most go.
So then, my own deep and heartfelt thanks to Mr Nimoy for what his work has meant to me. And in the unlikely event that my words should pass before any who did know and love him my deepest and most heartfelt sympathy on your loss, for whatever meager comfort words can bring.