L.J. Writes

Watching Star Trek, I used to think Jem Hadar and Klingons being these fierce warrior races was something of an Informed Trait when they kept losing in face-to-face fights with mild-mannered Starfleet officers. It was only later that it struck me, Starfleet officers are just that tough.

Just how motivated and ambitious do you have to be, as someone coming from a post-scarcity society, to sign up for such arduous training and potential danger? I have to wonder what kind of people decide to go through years of rigorous education, constant work and travel, and the possibility of a nasty death when they are guaranteed lives without fear or want right on their home planets.

Could it be that Starfleet is, in fact, a place for malcontents? Not the kind of small-time malcontent that turns to destruction and exploitation, but the kind of malcontent that is stifled on some level by the cushy existence of their home planet (even while being willing to die to protect it) and wants something more. Something out there and anywhere but here.

( What do you do with world-shakers in paradise? )

(This meta was originally posted to Tumblr and is reposted after light editing)