The English actor Patrick Stewart died a few days ago, age 86.  He had a good long life … emphasis on “good”.

Patrick was Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise on the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation.  He was my hero.  Not because he was the good guy saving everybody from the bad guys.  He wasn’t a swashbuckling action figure in the Marvel mode.  Jean-Luc (and the actor behind him) was a fine human being … kind, empathetic, assertive, determined.

I saw it in his eyes throughout the 178 episodes.  I saw his contact with each person he was with.  I don’t remember any small talk.  Whatever was important to the captain and his companions flowed from their mouths.

Jean-Luc met beings of many races and worlds.  Yes, sometimes there were conflicts but he maintained his respect for all expressions of life.  And he was true to The Prime Directive:

“Starfleet personnel are strictly prohibited from interfering with the natural unassisted social, cultural and technological evolution of alien civilizations.”

I wrote about Jean-Luc in this blog on September 29, 2014.  The words stay true:

Sure, he had a Shakespearean background, but he mesmerized me far beyond that.  He seemed to stop, to sit in the middle of the present moment, when he spoke.  He often used few words, with my favourites being “Make it so”.  His rich baritone enveloped me.  And then there were the inexpressibles … about which therefore there is nothing to say. 

My dear wife Jody and I watched countless episodes of Next Generation (maybe all of them).  In the fall of 2014, she was dying.  She lay in a hospital bed in our guest bedroom.  What Jody wanted during her last days was to watch Jean-Luc being Jean-Luc on my laptop, with me nearby.

***

It was a fond farewell

Thank you, Jody

Thank you, Patrick