( CNN ) I 'm not one of those crazy Trekkies -- you know , those fanatics who go to Star Trek conventions and own all kinds of preciously cheesy Star Trek memorabilia . All I have is a model communicator with a flip-lid that makes three different sound effects . And a Federation of Planets command badge . And the complete DVD set of the Star Trek animated series . And knowledge of every plot line of every episode of the original series . And , somewhere in my mom 's attic , an original hardbound edition of `` Star Fleet Technical Manual , '' which contains the schematics of every class of starship in the Federation , as well as the color schemes and insignia for all Star Fleet uniforms . And , of course , there 's my official first-grade school portrait , taken in a green Star Trek uniform ( little known fact : the yellow uniforms made famous by Captain Kirk originally were green but took on a more golden hue on camera ) . So , no , I 'm not a fanatic . I am just an American who happened to grow up in the early 1970s , when `` Star Trek '' aired , in syndication , every Saturday at 6 p.m. on WPIX in the New York Tri-State area and occupied the entirety of my youthful imagination . And when I consider the massive national outpouring of love and wonder and wistfulness after the death of Leonard Nimoy , I realize the reaction is not just about the iconic character called Mr. Spock . It 's not even about the series itself . It 's about the vision of society that `` Star Trek '' embodied . Imagine : Scots and Russians , people of Irish and Japanese and African descent , humans and Vulcans , all thriving together as a crew without having to downplay their differences -- indeed , by activating those differences . That vision must have seemed truly like science fiction to adults living through the fractious , polarized , flying-apart '70s . It seems similarly fantastic in our own times . But it 's a vision that endures , especially in the heart of a second-generation kid like me . As the son of Chinese immigrants , growing up on a mainly white suburban street called Old English Way , I was especially susceptible to such a vision . `` Star Trek '' showed me a way of being -- of being American -- that was about inclusion without assimilation . Participation without self-obliteration . Its diversity was not mere tokenism ; its diversity was in fact the raw material of excellence . And all that diversity was subsumed to a larger cause ( that of the Federation ) and a more urgent mission ( that of the Enterprise ) . You might think that because I 'm Asian I was drawn to Lieutenant Sulu as a role model . Or that because my bowl cut looked startlingly like Spock 's I was drawn to him . I did like George Takei as Sulu ( and love him even more today on social media ) . And I definitely rocked the bowl cut . But the genius of the show was that it allowed a young viewer to identify with characters beyond the surface markers of identity . Whatever I might have looked like , in my mind I was Kirk . I was in command . I spent countless hours pretending to be him , conjuring up scenes of dangerous exploration and silently narrating a Captain 's log as I moved cautiously through my house grasping a wooden phaser my neighbor had jigsawed for me . Other times I would just revel in being part of this Federation , this greater good . As my mom made stir-fry I would lie on the kitchen floor , moving my flattened palm above me like it was the Enterprise traversing the galaxy . I would go through reams of the `` bai zhi '' ( white paper ) my dad brought from the office , drawing colorful storybooks with brand-new `` Trek '' adventures . I was never conscious of why I was so drawn to this imaginary realm . But I see today how much it shaped my spirit . And shapes it still . The nation I 'm trying to build in my work as a grownup looks a lot like the society I lost myself in as a boy . Today in American life , when we are divided along so many chasms of race , class , faith and ideology , when it 's becoming more challenging than ever to sustain a cohesive sense of shared identity , we should remember two lessons from `` Star Trek . '' First , what matters most is not diversity but what we do with it -- how we make inclusive institutions and experiences that fully leverage its power . And second , we have a greater mission than mere expression of self . As citizens of the United States , we 're here to show the world how to be a unified crew . We 've got some work to do . `` Live long and prosper '' were perhaps Mr. Spock 's most famous watchwords . But to my mind , his character conjures up a different dictum : `` E Pluribus Unum . '' From many , one . A more earthly ambition , perhaps , but still worthy of our imagination .
Eric Liu : I was fully into Star Trek as a young boy in an immigrant household . In my first grade imagination , I was anticipating the kind of world we 'd like to live in now .