I agree that the people that read and appreciate this strip must be nice folks, and have a deep-seated core of humanity (McCoy style!)…you and me included! <>

The Chinese branch of our family do indeed love me, and I feel blessed and humbled to be the recipient of that wonderful gift. The love we have for each other is as refreshing as cold water on a hot day, and it never grows old or stale. The most amazing thing is that when they met us, they felt as though that had known us all their lives, as well! They loved my late mother and father, and my roommate’s late mother, as though they were their own. They helped us bury all three. They love my sister and my roommate the same way. And we couldn’t love our now-grown beautiful Chinese kids (Paul and Pearl) any more if they were our own. They are two amazing young people, and I can’t imagine my life without them. And their parents feel as though my sis, roommate and I are their sisters. We are together on birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and love to play miniature golf together.

I could tell you a million stories about our lives together, but suffice it to say, both of our families got more than we could ever have imagined.

Peace and long life to you…and may you live long and prosper!

Mary

When I saw this strip, I literally had an intake of breath.

I grew up with the original Star Trek, and reveled in the stories it told and the possibilities for a better world it presented. My favorite character was Dr. McCoy, the emotional heart of the troika of Kirk, Spock and McCoy.

Truth be told, I am still a Trekker and I STILL believe in the promise of Star Trek and the legacy of intelligence, nobility, humor, affection and deep friendship personified by the crew.

What McCoy said when Kirk watched his beloved Enterprise literally go down in flames still holds true today. When things are at their worst, the most important thing we can do is to strive to turn death into a fighting chance to live.

The year McCoy spoke those words is the same year that “The Killing Fields” came out. I link the two, because 5 years before, my family decided to sponsor an ethnic Chinese family out of the horrors of Cambodia. Although we had never met the Lys, it was as though we had known each other forever. They, the son they brought with them, and the hidden treasure born 6 months after their arrival (a little girl!) are part our family to this day, nearly 30 years later. It IS indeed possible to bring life out of death.

Thank you for reminding us about what really matters. May we all strive to find and nurture life out of death every day in every way possible. As Peter Yarrow says in “Light One Candle”: “We have come this far always believing/That justice would somehow prevail/This is the burden, this is the promise/This is why we will not fail!”

Peace and long life…live long and prosper.

Mary (and McCoy is STILL my favorite!)

An Uhura Wanabee