That's exactly the spirit that Star Trek was always about. Hope.

I grew up in the 80s and I never saw the Original Series but I saw a few of the movies and I always looked up to the characters of Kirk, Spock and McCoy and all the others. I was a teen when TNG started but we didn't have full access to cable TV so I only ever watched a handful of episodes but I loved them all ... because like you said, it gave a sense of hope and optimism for the future.

It's been so much fun over the past 10/15 years that I slowly got to watch all or most of the Star Trek I missed out on. It's getting to the point of being able to rewatch them all again and I don't mind.

Thanks for sharing! Keep watching, keep hoping and it's great to hear your story.