Thank You, Captain.

I have struggled with writing this post for a few days now. I knew, at the back of my mind, the moment I saw the news for the first time, that I would have to; for I felt a small thread of something snap inside me that moment, the kind that tells you that something terrible, or momentous, or terribly momentous, has happened – and I knew only that a very great presence was gone from the world, forever.

"Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again."
"The Inner Light," Season 5, Episode 25

In my lifetime, there has never been an occasion that required the introduction of Sir Patrick Stewart. To call him a household name would be practically a slight; 'living legend' fell short while he lived – and now, in death, he is 'merely' a legend.

He was famous for many things and many roles, but I write today about the one which arguably had the most impact on me, both as a means of escape from reality, and as inspiration to make reality itself more like the one which he inhabited. That role, of course, is Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The show itself was long off the air by the time I was old enough to really watch it. I don’t remember the first episode I saw, or even when – only that I kept coming back. The Enterprise was a place where problems got solved by people who thought before they acted, where the captain listened more than he spoke, and where being wrong was survivable as long as you were honest about it. I did not realize until much later the profound effect these things had on me.

Captain Picard was a role model for many things: staying calm under pressure, deciding with incomplete information, listening before acting, carrying responsibility without ego, and doing the right thing simply because it was the right thing.

The Next Generation was my first Star Trek series, but certainly not the last. I remain a dedicated Trekkie to this day. I have watched every series, every movie, often several times each; played more than a thousand hours of the MMO Star Trek Online; and, in more general terms, I have done my best to live a life, and be the kind of person, that would have made Captain Picard proud to have me in his crew. I can dream of no higher honor.

But Sir Patrick was more than one role. In his "real" life, he was as much an inspiration to myself and so many others as he was in any role on stage or screen. He was a man of unshakeable decency, wicked wit, and a generosity of spirit that reached millions of people he would never meet. He was a vocal supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, loudly and without hesitation; a fierce advocate for survivors of domestic violence, having watched his own mother endure it as a boy; and a champion for veterans carrying the invisible wounds of war, in honor of a father whose shell shock went unnamed and untreated for most of his life.

"How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million?"
Star Trek: Insurrection

There is little I can do or say, in my opinion, that would sufficiently honor the life of such a great man. So, I will close in the only appropriate way I can think of.

Thank you, Captain Picard. Thank you, Sir Patrick Stewart. You will always be a shining star in the final frontier.