Star Trek: 10 Life Lessons You Can Learn From Worf
9. The Price Of Personal Integrity - "Sins Of The Father" (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
When do you swallow your pride to preserve a higher value? We deal with this on a daily basis: when to venture an opinion at work or keep quiet? Do you go beyond expectations on a job out of a sense of internal pride even when you know you won't get recognized for your efforts? In "Sins of the Father", Worf is forced to accept public shame in order to keep the peace of the Empire. His Klingon father is accused of treason at the Romulan massacre at Khitomer when in reality; it is actually the father of the accuser who is really to blame. But because of influence of the Duras Family, to make the identity of the real traitor known to the Klingon people would open the door for civil war. Worf thinks of the higher value the safety of millions of Klingon innocent people and the potential threat to the Empire's galactic neighbours like the Federation. It is his humiliation and pride that must suffer weighed against the lives of all those people. For Worf, to accept the disdain and disavowal of his people is a heartbreaking price to pay. It is only the refuge of his human family and the honour found in the service of Star Fleet that makes his suffering bearable. It is a terrible price but this is a good example of when you must answer that higher call regardless of the personal expense it costs you.
John Kirk is a Teacher-Librarian and currently a History/English Teacher with the Toronto District School Board.
But mostly, John teaches Geek.
Comics, Sci-Fi (Notably Star Trek), Fantasy and Role-Playing and table-top games all make up part of John’s repertoire, There is a whole generation of nerds-in-embryo who rely on him to make sense of it all, to teach that with great power comes great responsibility, that the force will be with us always and that a towel IS the most useful thing to have in one’s possession.
When John isn’t in the classroom, he can be found in his basement writing comic reviews for www.popmythology.com and features for Roddenberry Entertainment's www.1701news.com.
