In the Next Generation and Voyager series, the star fleet crews encountered a variety of species. Of these species, several caught my attention.
The ?Skin of Evil? was encountered in the Next Generation. It was pure evil being prideful and selfish. It had no redeeming value and was left to a desolate lonely life trapped on a God forsaken planet.
But the other species had redeemable values of various degrees. For this reason, Voyager stirs my imagination as they were very far from home, traveling across the stars, and achieving heroic milestones with species unknown.
The Tecrah were a large lizard like nomadic hunter species that preyed on what they considered to be inferior species. They had captured Voyager and were using the holodecks and crew to study humans and enjoy the hunt. During this time, the Tecrah brutalized the crew stabbing, shooting, bruising, and breaking bones for weeks. One among the Tecrah realized a value of holodecks and saw a greater purpose of how to change their ways as a species and no longer hunt the living but instead fulfill their need to hunt with holo-images so that they could propagate their species by colonizing. Capt Janeway, following a revolt, learned of this Tecrah?s vision and offered the holodeck technologies so that they could pursue this vision for their society. But Tecrah among them did not agree with the vision and killed the visionary. Janeway, despite the rejectionist?s actions, fulfilled her promise and shared the holodeck technology with them in hope?s that some among them may pursue it.
Species 8472, named so by the Borg, was telepathic, originated from fluidic space, and was full of hatred towards other species seeking to destroy all they encountered. Many telepathic?s, in the proximity to 8472?s, would sense the evil and quiver at its depth. One of the 8472?s became trapped in natural space and was being hunted by the Tecrah. During the chase, the Tecrah and 8472 ended up on Voyager wounded and suffering in pain. Through telepathic communication the 8472 told Tuvoc that he was scared and wanted to go home. Capt Janeway began protecting the 8472, despite its inbred hatred, from the Tecrah and sought to send it home through a quantum singularity.
What impressed me most was not the uniqueness of these creatures or the cool technology that these aliens possessed. What impressed me most was how the humans, despite all the suffering and evil being perpetrated against them, demonstrated compassion towards those who were despicable; those who are, in fact, an enemy.
CAPT Janeway of the USS Voyager told 7 of 9 as she struggled with human emotions, ?Part of becoming human is learning to have compassion for those who are suffering, even when they are your bitter enemies.?
C.S. Lewis, a philosopher, explored loving the enemy and concurred with Capt Janeway remarking, “Loving my enemies does not mean thinking them nice, we must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves–to wish that he were not bad, to hope that he may, be cured. That is what is meant in the Bible by loving him: wishing his good, not feeling fond of him nor saying he is nice when he is not.”
However, C.S. Lewis does point out a limit to compassion remarking, ?Does loving your enemy mean not punishing him? No, for loving myself does not mean that I ought not to subject myself to punishment or even to death. If one had committed a murder; the right Christian thing to do would be to give yourself up to the police and be hanged. It is, therefore, in my opinion, perfectly right for a Christian judge to sentence a man to death or a Christian soldier to kill an enemy.? C.S. Lewis
Your Thoughts about the enemy?