Picard Quote #2

"You say you are true evil. Shall I tell you what true evil is? It is to submit to you. It is when we surrender our freedom - our dignity instead of defying you."

- S 1 Ep 22

Picard says this to what is basically a monster made of tar not long after the said monster murdered a member of his crew. The creature is trying to get the Captain to take it aboard the enterprise so that it may be taken away from the planet that has become it's prison and exile by using fear and intimidation. The quote above is the captain's response.

Personal choice and the right to being and living how one chooses is something commonly valued amongst people, yet it's also something so often crushed. For example, America is a country that was founded on the basis of freedom, specifically religious freedom so that people could worship as they chose. The Declaration of Independence claims that people had a right to live free of a tyrannical monarchy. Ask anyone, and they will most likely agree to this idea - in word only.

True, in this day and age people are theoretically allowed to live and believe whatever they want. That doesn't mean they won't be persecuted for it. 

The most stark example I can think of is the Gay/Lesbian controversy. Supporters of it are essentially fighting for the right to live as they choose. Whenever people go against them or defy them, those people are crucified for it. They claim to be searching for the right to be who they are, yet when others do the same, they are condemned because it goes against what the supporters want.

I'm not saying that one side or another of this controversy is right. Of course, I have religious reasons for believing homosexuality is wrong, but I also believe that condemning someone for their way of life is just as wrong. There are things that are blatantly evil - murder, child abuse, slavery, etc. Those are physical evils, however. In my mind, the Gay/Lesbian controversy is a question of the spirit. No one is physically harmed because that way of life - if someone is, it's usually in relation to something else, not because of homosexuality itself. It is the idea of self discovery and the identity of a person's spirit being perceived as wrong or impure. At the end of the day, that is not our place to decide. I will never change my belief that homosexuality is wrong, but nor will I condemn those who do. Every person has the right to live as they choose. I have no right to judge them for it. 

My point here is that the greatest evil within this controversy is sometimes not because of homosexuality itself, but because of people being shunned on both sides for their beliefs. People tend to get angry when their view of something isn't supported, and when people are angry, they usually want to act out. That's where violent petitions and such come from.

Being LDS, my religion has a long history of persecution behind it, angry mobs hurting and sometimes killing members of the church because of what they believed. 

When faced with such violence and fear, human instinct is to escape it. Human instinct strives only to protect you. Thus, the instinct is to give in to what the angry mobs of the world cry for. That is true evil. No one should be put in a position where they are asked to choose between their life and their beliefs because the two are rarely separate. One of the beliefs of the LDS church is that of something called "agency" or our right to make our own decisions. We have every right to choose good or evil. No creature can every take that from us. There will always be those who try, but those people are wrong and will one day feel the full anguish of making that sort of mistake. 

I suppose what I take from this Picard Quote is that one of the greatest evils is to try to force someone to think as you do through fear and torment. Thus, couldn't it be argued that one of the greatest goods is to accept people no matter what they believe? We all want to be respected for our beliefs, not persecuted for them, but is that ever going to happen so long as "angry mobs" exist?

I can imagine people getting very angry over some of the things I've said in this post. If you're one of them, I'm sorry that my words upset, but I'm not going to take them back.

Picard Quote #1

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life."

-S 2, Ep 21

Picard says this to Data because Data is worried about again losing a strategy game against an exceedingly . . . well, "skilled" opponent. After reprimanding him, Picard says this.

In this crazy world we live in, it's hard to cut yourself a break sometimes. We all get caught in the trap of needing to do something perfectly. The culture we live in is one that devalues losers and overvalues winners, so I suppose it's hardly surprising that we all will, on occasion, fall into the trap of seeing ourselves as weak simply because we've failed.

This is one of those quotes that reminds me of that Thomas Jefferson quote that Ben Gates says in National Treasure. The one about the lightbulb. "I didn't fail. I found 100 ways not to make a lightbulb." Very often we view our losses as nothing more than failures, which has a very negative overtone. Failing is bad. Failing means you're a pathetic, wimpy person. If you fail at something, that means you yourself are a failure as a person. It's one of those things that we humans tend to focus on and label ourselves with when they occur.

That's why I like this quote from Star Trek. As much as we'd like to think otherwise, we won't win every battle, but that doesn't make us failures or "weak". "That is life." It's one of those things that make us equal because it's something we all share. 

The way this quote resonates with me is mostly to my writer's side. We writers tend to be very hard on ourselves. When our creations our rejected, it's taken very personally because it doesn't feel so much like our writing is being rejected so much as who we are is. But, that's not really fair to ourselves. If no one likes the things you come up with, that may be hurtful, but does it really matter at the end of the day? I hope not. So long as you've created something that you are proud of, then what does it matter what everyone else thinks. This may be encouraging selfishness, but I think it's okay to just write for yourself and forget about everyone else. :)

Sometimes even something perfect will be rejected by those around us. That doesn't mean it's bad. From an LDS girls' perspective, I look at the many missionary stories from the Book of Mormon. More than once, they would go into cities, preach the gospel, and get kicked out - usually getting severely injured in the process. They did everything they were supposed to, everything they were asked, but it looked as though they still lost. Well, not really. They did their job. The fact that the people rejected them wasn't their fault. They couldn't force them to believe. The final decision was left up to the people they preached to, and they chose to reject it. So, I guess technically, the missionaries didn't lose, but the cities who rejected them sure did.

Anyway, I guess my whole point is that this is a good quote; something to remember when you're being really hard on yourself. Don't let yourself label yourself when you make mistakes or fail at something. As Riker says in a later episode, "It's arrogant to assume you'll never make a mistake." And as Mr. Jefferson said, "I found 100 ways not to make a lightbulb." Losing isn't a failure or a weakness. It's the first step to finding something greater. That's a cheesy thing to say, I know, but let's be honest here, you know it's true.

Introducing My Favorite Picard Quotes

I've been watching some of Captain Picard's "best" quotes and speeches on youtube lately. Nothing extravagant has happened because of that, I just kind of want to start a blog series now where I analyze one Picard quote per post. Wow, that sounds really lame when put into words. It's cooler in my head. That's true for most things though. :)

Anyway, I just like talking about Star Trek, especially Captain Picard because he's one of my favorite characters, especially as I get older and I can better appreciate what he's saying. In this world of pessimism and impure ideals, it's refreshing to me to hear about people who don't fall prey to it - even if they are fictional. As far as fictional characters go, Captain Picard is one that I think I would look up to most if he were real. He's one of the most honorable and consistently decent characters television has ever seen. So, I guess I want to share some of my favorite quotes to prove it. I have no idea how many posts there will be or how long I'll do it. They may not even all be consecutive. I may blog about other things for awhile and then come back to Picard quotes. You never know.

I'm not going to start right now though. My sisters' birthday party will soon begin, so this will have to wait. Also, I don't know which quote I would like to start on. I would like to be able to show the clip from the show that has the quote I would talk about, but that'll only happen if I can find it on youtube. I'm not technologically skilled enough to do it any other way. We'll see how that works out.

In the mean time, here's a video I did find on youtube of a bunch of Picard quotes to give you an idea of what's going to come. Hee hee!