Fans asked Nimoy questions about current events such as the Vietnam War and LSD as if he were the Vulcan scientist; one even asked the actor to lay his hands on a friend's eyes to heal them. When a biracial girl wrote asking for advice on how to deal with persecution as "a half-breed", Nimoy responded that young Vulcans had treated Spock similarly and that she should, as he did, "realize the difference between popularity and true greatness". The actor believed that the character appealed to viewers, especially teenagers, because