In his classic parody, “White and Nerdy,” “Weird Al” Yankovic identified a classic nerd dilemma: “The only question I ever thought was hard/Was do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?” The thing is, though, that was never much of a dilemma for me. James Tiberius Kirk might’ve been the face of the Star Trek franchise, and there’s no denying his charisma and swagger as a Starfleet captain. But when it came to upholding the ideals of Star Trek, no one did it better than Jean-Luc Picard.
Although he was a bit on the stuffy side in those early episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Picard quickly revealed himself to be a consummate leader and explorer. And thanks to Sir Patrick Stewart, who sadly passed away this week at the age of 86 after battling Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy Body Dementia, everything Picard said felt wise, dignified, and principled — all qualities you’d want from the captain of Starfleet’s flagship.
One of my favorite Picard moments comes from the season two episode “Peak Performance.” The Enterprise-D crew is participating in a war-game simulation under the observation of the brilliant-but-arrogant strategist Sirna Kolrami. The crew is split into two teams for the exercise, with Commander Riker taking command of the dilapidated USS Hathaway to serve as the Enterprise’s competition. Lieutenant Commander Data fills in for Riker as Picard’s first officer, but after he’s soundly defeated by Kolrami in a game of Strategema — a defeat that takes the Enterprise crew entirely by surprise — the android begins to doubt his abilities.
So much so, in fact, that Data actually removes himself from bridge duty and sequesters himself in his quarters, where he starts running diagnostics in order to identify what’s wrong with him. Finally, just as the war-game is about to start, Picard visits Data in his quarters to remind him of his duty to the Enterprise — and to deliver this incredible life lesson, which takes on added gravitas thanks to Stewart’s delivery: “Commander, it is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.” (Kudos, of course, to the episode’s writer, David Kemper, for coming up with that line in the first place.)
There are many classic Picard moments — e.g., outwitting Q with Shakespeare, singing “Frère Jacques” to calm down some frightened kids, calling out injustice and oppression, standing up to torture — but his exhortation to Data is the one that I keep coming back to. It’s a simple lesson, one we would all do well to remember from time to time.
We’re all fallible, meaning that even if we have all of the information, all of the training, and all of the preparation, we can still end up losing. When that happens, it’s tempting — and all too easy — to blame ourselves, to assume that we’re entirely to blame for our own defeat. As the good captain reminds us, though, sometimes life just doesn’t work out in our favor because, well, that’s life, and it has nothing to do with our possible flaws and foibles. And even though we may need to occasionally run some diagnostics on ourselves, we also need to leave our hesitation and self-doubt in our quarters, get on with our lives, and fulfill the duties we have to those around us.