Today someone important to me and friends passed away
I was never into Star Trek that much (the one with Shatner, or TOS) and when the Next Generation started up, I became fascinated about how intensely interested my friend Todd was in the show. “John, you gotta watch it!” I passed. He wouldn’t answer the phone when the show came on. He needed his hour with Captain Picard.
He eventually came over, or I went to his house, I don’t remember which, and I watched it. And I got hooked, too. It was still a running show by the time I went to college, wherein Todd had started calling himself a ‘Captain’ and I needed a better leg up on him, so I called myself ‘The Admiral.’ My roommate in college, Chris, gave himself the title ‘Q’ to best us both.
StarTrek: TNG was such an integral part of our identities as young men. The shows had an optimism about them, due to the vision of Rodenberry and the characters, themes, and stories were intelligent. The adventures, fun. And Patrick Stewart’s character, Picard, imperfect, but still admirable.
This afternoon I first got a text from Chris with the news of Stewart’s passing. Seconds later, another text, from my friend Jack: Picard, he’s passed! I made friends with Jack in grad school and he’d dressed up a Starfleet officer for Halloween one year. Yeah, maybe my friends and I are just slightly geeky? And then Todd writes. In tears. Patrick Stewart is dead!
The impact you have
I don’t think it’s unusual for us to feel it when beloved artists, actors, musicians, and the like, pass into the afterlife. We get used to having them around, even when they really aren’t; an old interview on YouTube, a re-run on TV, or in the case of Stewart, seeing him in one of his movies.
The Picard series was something special for me, with the way they ended the last season, with the TNG team coming together. We got cheated out of more movies and this was a satisfying finish, to see the old crew, the old ship we’d grown up with, finally achieve victory. I think we can be fortunate that Stewart had the opportunity with that series, however short it was.
But for me Patrick Stewart was special not because of his acting, or the fact he played a French Starfleet captain. He was a good actor, yes. But seeing the man’s personality outside of the franchise? He was funny, charming, and he seemed to care about others. He read poetry to us during COVID. He stayed friends with the TNG actors. For me, the fact he played gay characters and was an ally to the community? He was not only admirable for a part he played, but for the type of real life he led and let us see.
Leadership
Roles like captains, admirals, and Qs might be recognized as situational leaders. Its true, depending upon our vocation, those types of leaders can inspire us. Actors aren’t captains though. Or CEOs or bosses. They’re artists. They help tell stories, stirring the emotions. Sounds a lot like a musician, right? But the musician’s art is sound. The actor’s? It’s the spoken word, body movements, and more importantly, the suspension of belief they create when we accept them within their roles. They take us for wild rides. Sometimes through space.
I think it’s extraordinary that a man who played a starship captain on television and in movies moved my friends and I the way he did. Engage! Pulling down our shirts, pointing, and saying his iconic word was fun. Funny, even, in his mimicry. But I think for all of us we recognized something bigger in Sir Patrick. His wisdom, his assuredness, and the trust we placed in a man we never met.
Some years ago when I worked for Goochland County, I hung a poster of “Picard” in my office. People assumed I was just a Trek fan, but it hung there to remind me what had inspired me when I was younger. About the kind of leader and person I still aspired to be. And for that, I have to pay gratitude. Not to him personally, it’s too late for that, but it’s why I wanted to write something this evening.
You, Sir Patrick, inspired me with your humor, your skill, and the way you lived your life through strong personal values. May you rest in peace and may everyone you touched in your eighty-six years who is still with us take a moment to thank you for the impact, either small or profound, you had on our lives.
As we know, all good things, Jean Luc, must come to an end.