In Survivors, Deanna Troi gives Tasha an intriguing piece of advice as Tasha struggles to come to terms with her past. She says, "Tasha, you want to be the iron woman, able to defeat all enemies with any weapon or your bare hands, all pertinent facts ready at hand. Data has the physical strength and wide-ranging knowledge you envy, and yet he would give it all up to be human. Talk with him; I think you will learn a great deal from one another."
Tasha is not at all unfamiliar with Data--they have, in fact, had some personal encounters (no spoilers here for those who have not seen season 1 of TNG). However, Deanna's advice leads her to consider her interactions with Data in a new light.
It is often said that opposites attract. But how often do we take the presence of opposites in our lives as opportunities for learning and growth instead of frusttation? My dad is a strong thinker and analyzer. I am a strong feeler and empathizer. My feeling tendencies often irritate him; and one of the things he has encouraged me to do over the years is to develop stronger thinking skills. Whether he knows it or not, I actually took him up on the challenge. I am and will always be a stronger feeler; but making use of my thinking skills helped me to make better use of my feelings and empathy. This includes the ability to determine when to lay them aside at times (not always an easy task while they scream at me in the middle of my work). I hope that perhaps the thinkers in my lifemight benefit as much from learning to use their emotions. (By the way, Vulcans do, indeed, have emotions. But more on that in another post at some future point...)
For those in my readership who may notice that I have alluded to Myers-Briggs type above, that is intentional. The sharing of experience and information between the other personality aspects is also beneficial.
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