"And the Children Shall Lead"

A Star Trek Story

I was watching TV tonight (my husband has gotten hooked on the Star Trek series (starting with Star Trek The Original Series (ST-TOS)). There was a third season episode - # 59 - called “And the Children Shall Lead”.

The link is here to some streaming video, including Prime Video. In that episode, young children are co-opted by a malevolent alien, who persuades them to give their allegiance to the one they call the Friendly Angel.

He eliminates their parents, and they help him to control the crew of the Enterprise. It is difficult for the captain and Spock to get the children to see the damage the Friendly Angel has done.

(Spoiler Alert!)

Kirk and Spock show the children video of happier times, when their parents were alive. They then show them their deceased parents, at which point the children realize what they have lost, and begin crying.

Maybe the grown-but-not-really Children of the Revolution need such a wake-up call. They need to be lead to see what they had, and what they have lost. Only after that hard facing the truth can they begin facing reality, and re-join the rest of us.

Such an experience would be painful, but only through the pain of truth can people become aware of just how far they have come from the Good Times.