In our youth, I'm sure some of us aspired to "greatness". We were ambitious and strivers. But as time goes on, it becomes apparent that we aren't going to become Red Shirt Captain Picard but lowly Blue Shirt LTjg Picard as shown in the "Tapestry" episode. We are going to be living out the rest of our lives as dreary, ordinary people in tedious jobs. When I was younger, I thought I would become someone like Red Shirt Picard. Well maybe not that high but at least LaForge level "greatness". But now that I am entrenched in middle age, it's clear that I ended up becoming Blue Shirt Picard. Who else is around middle age and ended up being Blue Shirt Picard?
I'm quite a few years older than middle age and definitely a blue-shirt Picard. I would point my finger at the repression of the English class system and Mrs Thatcher's encouragement of rampant greed in the 80s that I never bought into - if I were into assigning blame and wanted to play the victim. In reality, I did ok and I could probably have strived harder. I'm not an Internet billionaire although perhaps that's for the best as they mostly seem to be arseholes. Bill Gates seems to be the best of that bunch with his philanthropic efforts. In the long run, we are all dead anyway and the universe doesn't care. In a thousand years time, very few people of the current era will be remembered.
I refuse to subscribe to Picard's contemptuous, dismissive looking down from on high at those who didn't, or couldn't achieve what he could achieve. Just because you're a "blue shirt" doesn't mean you can't have a fulfilling life. Life is what you make of it. It's also difficult to compare real life 21st century to fictional 24th century so such comparisons are moot. For me, I never knew what I wanted to do. I had little direction and little ambition and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my life. I guess you could say that I fit into the blue shirt category but I refuse to be shackled by that definition.
I love my blue shirt! Ever since Kindergarten I always wanted to end up in the science department, like Spock. And though the job I have now was originally not my first choice, it turned out that it's maybe even better than #1 would have been. I think it's up to everyone themselves to make the best of their chances. Even sweeping roads can be an interesting job if you don't always focus on the disadvantages but develop a genuine interest and passion.
Totally with you about not looking down on people and saying certain people can't have a fulfilling life. However I think Tapestry and the question are more about having allowed your own fear to stop you going for the life you want. In that sense, I am unfortunately very much a Blue Shirt Picard. I have a job that some in my organisation find very fulfilling, but I do not. That doesn't mean they are wrong, or have lower expectations. It means they are different people to me. I envy them. They are Red Shirt Picards - they are living a fulfilling life they enjoy. But to end on a positive note, from one Blue Shirt Picard to another, remember it's never too late to make a difference!
I need to rewatch Tapestry, but from my last assessment of the episode, it does seem to send some mixed messages. I think the best message of the episode is to seize the day. Having almost died, the young Picard realized how precious life is and he lived courageously from then on. He had focus and went after his goals. Some people haven't figured out what they truly want to do, and there is no shame in that. Many of us are stuck in dreary jobs that we don't really enjoy.
I would say it's more about choices, not fear. Picard lamented his choices and wondered if things might have turned out differently had he made what he thought of as 'better' choices. Of course, he finds out the results of making these better and safer choices. Watching that episode, I never for one minute thought Picard was fearful of anything. It was his young, stupid, brash, arrogant choices that he regretted.
A key difference is that in our real world, most of us have to work to even have the chance to enjoy the life we want to enjoy. In Picard's fictional future, it's very different. My job is not horrible. I get paid fairly for what I do and I work with good people. However, is it what I really wanted to be doing at this stage in my life? Probably not, but that doesn't make it the equivalent of the dreary and depressing reality Picard thinks he faces as a blue shirt. Far from it. The episode overdramatizes the fate that Q shows to Picard but then again TV overdramatizes everything for effect.
Very happy with my blue shirt. I enjoy my life, I am glad I exist. I don't need to make a mark in any way, and I don't care if I'm remembered after I'm gone. Blue shirt for life, boiiii! (That's not to say I like my job, it kind of sucks actually. But my job is not my life, it's just a means to an end.)
I was an early achiever who, pushed to continue in a life of uninterrupted high success but without being shown much in the way of appreciation or reward, instead burned out and stopped caring, went through a bit of a rough patch for about a decade, and finally ended up on a path of almost-comfortable mediocrity. But still the mind remembers old glory and wonders what might have been, had circumstances been different. So, a bit Wesley, a bit Stubbs, and a bit Daystrom, with a Blue Shirt ending. "You will never face a greater enemy than your own potential." - Dr. Paul Stubbs Many things about my youth I regret, but without them, I wouldn't be me. Don't know what I WOULD be. Depending on the change of choices, I could be anything from State Senator (yes, people actually predicted this... when I was ELEVEN) to dead. Sometimes I wish I could peek into parallel universes and see what became of me in those. But not often.
I like to think I wear a purple shirt. I have made some good decisions in my life and fear has not been that much of a factor in my decision making as I am a pretty confident person. But, there were times in my life I chose the easier path for various reasons. I kicked ass on the MCATs, but decided to forego medical school. I was accepted into a program to teach in Hawaii with some pretty cool incentives like moving expenses and a living stipend, but decided to forego that for a relationship I had just started, which worked out since I married the guy. I like my job and the freedom it gives me and I am working my way up the ladder here. I also think the red shirt/ blue shirt applies to much more than one's job. I have had many moments in the sun: was the lead in plays, sang solos in chorus, organized charity runs by myself, climbed Mt. Baker, etc. To me it is more about having goals that challenge you to put yourself out there and meeting those goals.
Good topic, I do think about this kind of thing time to time, especially when I see some posts about some of my old friends being coordinators, superintendents or being on the board for some kind of organization on my Facebook wall. I do wonder about what if I decided to have gone into education when I was an undergrad. I also wonder about having gone to a different college where I'd be better equipped for a career in some kind of biological research, with a doctorate. But honestly, I'd miss out lot of training and experience I had the past fifteen years. I honestly think I would be a much weaker biology teacher if I went for it twenty years ago, not to mention all the hurdles I've been having the past ten years toward my certification. I've taken more courses and training than I'd like to admit to. Most teachers don't have this much training and coursework prior to certification. As for the biology career, I think it'd be a lonelier life for me. I'm not really in a bad place. I got my masters before my 34th birthday. I've grown a lot working with special needs kids. I have five years of animal husbandry under my belt, with some laboratory experience. I can't imagine being a biology teacher without that experience. Lot of science teachers never had jobs related to what they are teaching.... It's easy to feel I'm a blue-shirt Picard. But I'd miss out a lot if I attained my Masters degree much sooner, and had completed my certification fifteen years ago. I think I'm a better person for it. I'm considering going for a principal licensure after several years of post-certification teaching.
One may be stuck in a dreary job, but that doesn't mean the entirety of one's personhood is dreary. It's only a job, after all. Kor
I'm an independent contractor. Financially, I have ups-and-downs. But I'm not blue-shirt Picard. I'm more like a mercenary-for-hire.
Some people own what they do and where they're at. They are happy in the moment and if they are a blue shirt may be happier than a disgruntled red shirt who wants to be a gold shirt. I don't see myself as a blue shirt but I think I might be a grey shirt with the mindset of a red shirt
given the number of redshirts that got killed during the series, particularly during TOS and TNG, we can count ourselves lucky to be blueshirts We definitely have a higher life expectancy, more in-depth knowledge, a better social environment (10 Forward as opposed to the Captain's ready room) and far less stress. Not to mention the more steady personal relationships. We also get less alien parasites, fewer abductions, less physical attacks and never need to adjust our uniforms when getting up. And on the whole we blueshirts are so attractive that some of us have to fight their fans off: