Prayer and DS9

I'm still watching Deep Space Nine and I've come to an episode I've always remembered since I first saw it years ago - It's Only a Paper Moon. In this episode, Nog, a young Ferengi Star Fleet officer who's just lost hid leg in battle, is so disturbed by his injury that he tales to living in a holosuite program with a 50s Las Vegas casino lunge singer, Vic Fontaine (James Darren). Here we see Nog hanging out with Vic, as he slowly recovers (and Vic sings It's Only a Paper Moon) ...



But eventually Nog is forced to leave the holosuite and he tries to explain to Vic why he doesn't want to ...

* * *

NOG: Don't you get it? I can't go out there.

VIC: Why not?

NOG: I'm scared, okay? I'm scared. When the war began, I wasn't happy or anything, but I was eager. I wanted to test myself. I wanted to prove I had what it took to be a soldier. And I saw a lot of combat. I saw a lot of people get hurt. I saw a lot of people die, but I didn't think anything was going to happen to me. And then suddenly Doctor Bashir is telling me he has to cut my leg off. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. If I can get shot, if I can lose my leg, anything could happen to me, Vic. I could die tomorrow. I don't know if I'm ready to face that. If I stay here, at least I know what the future is going to be like.

VIC: You stay here, you're going to die. Not all at once, but little by little. Eventually you'll become as hollow as I am.

NOG: You don't seem hollow to me.

VIC: Compared to you, I'm hollow as a snare drum. Look, kid, I don't know what's going to happen to you out there. All I can tell you is that you've got to play the cards life deals you. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but at least you're in the game.

* * *

The reason I mentioned prayer in the title is because so often my prayers are a recitation of Nog's concerns ..... "I don't want to do this anymore. Bad stuff keeps happening to everyone, including me, and there's no way to stop it. I'm scared. I just want it to all go away." I'm still waiting to see if God has any advice more helpful than Vic;s to Nog.