Tapestry Ending Insults Ordinary People

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Maybe in that timeline, he didn't join Starfleet until later in life, or took a long hiatus trying a bunch of other things which didn't satisfy him either. Drifting, not really liking anything, he returned to Starfleet. Maybe his aversion to risk-taking meant he actually got demoted once or twice.

 

[marsh8472]

I wonder how his future would have turned out had they won the fight with the nausicaan

 

[DonIago]

Terran Emperor Jean-Luc Picard, obviously.

 

[JesterFace]

I think 'Tapestry' can be very insulting to people who have, or people close to them who have a fatal condition.

Picard tells Q at one point: I would rather die as the man I was...

For example, think about a cancer patient who has been told that there's nothing anyone can do and the next year will be their last. That patient might take a boring job if it cures the cancer.

I'm not fatally ill, but neurological problems have limited my life. If someone offered me health and a boring job, I would take it immediately. And I'm not the one with the worst luck, this thing isn't going to kill me...

Perhaps Picard was just trying to make his point to Q by exaggerating..?

 

[Armus]

In the TNG episode "Tapestry", we see that Picard led a very different life due to wanting to change it. Instead of one that takes risks, is ambitious and pushes the envelope to get noticed and make Captain, he leads an ordinary, risk-averse life and is stuck at LTJG rank as some lowly nobody science officer.

Upon realizing this, Picard then declares that he would rather die as captain of the Enterprise than continue to live as a nobody.

On reflection, I started to think. Wait a minute, most of his crew members are probably nobody lowly crew members that never advance very far. Does Picard think that low of them? And IRL, most of us are that lowly nobody science officer. I mean is living an ordinary life that bad? Few of us can become extraordinary by definition and most of us IRL (and most people even in the Trekverse) live "dreary lives doing tedious jobs".

Don't get me wrong. I loved this episode. But there's no escaping that Picard would rather be dead than live some comfortable but ordinary life. Well most of us are that lowly nobody science officer IRL, I know I am. So it did feel a bit insulting to me.

I'm sure others have stated this better than I. The point of the episode was that Picard's brush with death was the incident that made him realize how life was short and that you had to:

 

[Mojochi]

For example, think about a cancer patient who has been told that there's nothing anyone can do and the next year will be their last. That patient might take a boring job if it cures the cancer.

Agreed. This was the crux of my point. It's not just that Picard is turning down or refusing to accept an alternate life, which is in some manner less bold, in order to mend the regrettable mistakes of his past. I get that that's the point of the episode, Picard facing his past demons & accepting who he is

However, the issue is that Picard has been told he's dying, & is shown near death, & he would rather accept THAT than LIFE, solely because the life he saw doesn't measure up. Well, it may not measure up to the life he'd had, but given that THAT one is possibly over, how can someone with a passion for living refuse to even consider accepting a second chance at life, ANY life? It's really arrogantly short-sighted, that he doesn't even mull it over. This isn't about the LIFE he wants to be living, it's about the DEATH he should want to be avoiding. Life is better than no life. Know why? Because as long as you have it, you can make whatever you want of it. Don't like Lt. Picard's life? Fine. Make something of it that you WOULD like. You can't fix any life once you're dead. It is very much like saying that some lives aren't worth living

I have to assume the only reason he would choose as he did, without even thinking it over, was that in some recess of his mind, he thought Q was bullshitting him about dying, but that's a pretty big risk to take, because I'm not even sure Q was. Hell, I'd take a shot at being Klim Dokachin before I'd give up being alive, & I'd even be happy to rattle around old broken down, junked starships for a while, before I decided I wasn't fulfilled enough & moved on

 

[DonIago]

I rather think that for him it was more like a choice between capital punishment and life imprisonment.

 

[Mojochi]

capital punishment

life imprisonment

Nope. Not seeing it. That 2nd picture is not a prison sentence, or forced hand of any kind. It's a free life, & chance to be any kind of man he wants to be. Just because it's not what he views as his single best destiny doesn't make it not worth living

This episode makes me wonder what would become of Picard if he became debilitated, & couldn't continue being what he has been. Should we just euthanize him? "I would rather die as the man I was, than live the life I just saw" What? How about a life like Pike? or Sarek? I'd assume those lives became considerably more difficult than merely being seen as dull & sheepish

 

[DonIago]

Except it's not your decision; it's his.

 

[Mojochi]

Except it's not your decision; it's his.

Yes... & I'm saying it's a very arrogant, short-sighted, & rather thoughtless decision, given what we know about him, essentially claiming that some lives less desirable to him than the one he'd had, are not worth living. He gave more consideration to his possible life & future, in his predicament from "Rascals"

 

[DonIago]

So...you're criticizing him for being so appalled so quickly that he jumped at the first opportunity available to escape it?

As with TIL, it's entirely possible that if he hadn't been offered an escape hatch, Picard would have reconsidered, but why should he have to?

Hell, I haven't even experienced them and I know there are some lives that I wouldn't be at all comfortable living if I knew what I'd lost in the process.If I, for instance, was suddenly struck blind, deaf and dumb, I think it's entirely possible I'd contemplate suicide. And that isn't a comment on those who are blind, deaf and dumb, any more than a woman's decision to not have an abortion under suboptimal circumstances is some sort of comment on those who choose to have abortions.

How dreadful that Picard might believe that he could never accept a life that he would find significantly less fulfilling than the one he'd had.

And if his decision was guided more by an instinctual reaction than by experience, he'd hardly be the first person guilty of making a potentially dubious decision without waiting to see how things might play out first.

 

[Nyotarules]

To paraphrase Chris Rock - "There are poor white folks who don't want my life, and I'm rich!"

 

[Mojochi]

How dreadful that Picard might believe that he could never accept a life that he would find significantly less fulfilling than the one he'd had.

It is, considering that the only limitations on it are ones that Picard had placed on it himself, which in an instant could be discarded in lieu of living out his life however he chose, including how he currently lives the one he's presently inhabiting. The world of Lt Picard is one of his own device, just as the one of Capt. Picard. It's not a case of something like an unwanted pregnancy derailing it. He made choices in both iterations, & he can still make choices that course correct it any way he chooses

And if his decision was guided more by an instinctual reaction than by experience, he'd hardly be the first person guilty of making a potentially dubious decision without waiting to see how things might play out first.

But that's not the Picard we know. Only a few episodes earlier, he gets thrust into a little boy's body, & is fully willing to at least contemplate the possible avenues of his future, and before you say, well he'd still have a whole life ahead of him to shape that life, I'd say to you that the age he is now is only halfway through his potential life

It's not so much that he chose the way he did that really bugs me, though I might have chosen differently, being who I am. It's that he gave no mindful thought to it whatsoever, not even so much as he'd had in Rascals. I've come to expect more from the intellectual, philosophical, "Renaissance" captain than that, the one who'd never shy away from re-evaluating his convictions. I'm certain the events of The Inner Light left him with all sorts of things to reevaluate about his life, but in this situation, that kind of humility is absent.

Hell, after the Borg assimilation, he was even considering some deep sea project back on Earth, but here, on his death bed? Nothing. Gimme the me I was or gimme nothing. End of deliberation, period. That's what bugs me. It makes him seem like he's stuffed full of hubris when it comes to his "Captain Picard" life, when we know that hasn't been the case, or that he thinks Q is pulling his leg, & I'm not sure he is. It really was just an error in the writing. Had they included 1 scene, where he thinks that maybe it wouldn't be so bad being Lt. Picard, even after seeing the whole thing for what it is, I'd probably have none of this to say

 

[DonIago]

Except the fact that Q shows up the minute Picard asks him to basically makes it clear that for all practical purposes Q was in fact pulling his leg.

Why should Picard bother to seriously contemplate this existence if he really can be rid of it at the drop of a hat and doesn't care for it anyway?

I might understand your concerns if Q hadn't shown up and Picard had been forced to deal with the situation for even a short time, but he wasn't. You're criticizing him for not contemplating a lifestyle he not only wasn't interested in based on what he saw but was under no serious impetus to consider in any case.

To refer back to my abortion example above, I frankly find the whole "Well he should have at least considered it" option vaguely troubling, as though any woman who's convinced that she wants an abortion should have to second-guess herself as well...the implication being that if we don't see it explicitly being done than it must not be occurring at all.

 

[Mojochi]

Except the fact that Q shows up the minute Picard asks him to basically makes it clear that for all practical purposes Q was in fact pulling his leg.

I don't know if I buy that. Clearly Q is watching the whole thing, but the question of life or death is never treated as though it's superficial. By choosing the way he did, Picard's life was undeniably at risk of ending right then

Why should Picard bother to seriously contemplate this existence if he really can be rid of it at the drop of a hat and doesn't care for it anyway?

Because the alternative is death... no life

the implication being that if we don't see it explicitly being done than it must not be occurring at all.

In relation to drama, yes. If a character isn't shown or heard reflecting on something, it's much harder to imply or establish that they are. I just think it would've been much more believable & thereby less insulting if he'd given at least as much reflection as he did in Rascals or Family

Edit: In reflection, mine is a rather petty gripe about the episode, because it so easily could've been solved with only one line of dialog from either Picard or Q. That it didn't get put in there just kind of soured me on the episode, but this has been the most I've ever whined about it lol

 

[Voth commando1]

With regards to a previous comment and to add my own thoughts on this the Federation seems like a very conformist society and Starfleet especially so you know "have any color you want just make sure its beige." People who are dissatisfied with their lot in Starfleet or the federation in general probably have been conditioned either to view it through a best of both worlds lens, or have simply been conditioned to not question their station.

Which if interpreted that way puts a very negative spin on life in Star Trek.

 

[Jonesy]

I don't think it insults ordinary people. Picard simply said at the end that he didn't want to be the man that he ended up being when Q altered history - that's all. He felt what he learned and experienced help shape him into the person that he became. I don't see it being ordinary at all. And besides, how many people really want to be ordinary? What if you were given different choices in your life to make a part of you more extraordinary? What if you were in Picards shoes?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And besides, how many people really want to be ordinary? What if you were given different choices in your life to make a part of you more extraordinary?

Hey, I don't mind. I have a good job, make a decent living, have four walls and a roof over my head. That's good enough for me. Some of us are quite willing to let other people have the glory. Me, I like blending into the background. Yeah, you might say I have no ambition...but my ambition is to survive.

Being "extraordinary" is overrated - and also too often used as an excuse for people to look down their noses at others whom they judge as not being "evolved" enough.

What if you were in Picards shoes?

As Sisko might say: I'M...NOT...PICARD.

 

[Nyotarules]

Most of the human race is 'ordinary,' nothing wrong with that, everyone cannot be 'Alexander The Great', Meryl Streep or even Donald Trump or else we would be constantly at war looking to takeover someone else's corner of the globe, failed billionaires with massive egos or brilliant actors. When everyone is 'extraordinary' then no one is.

 

[Mojochi]

Hey, I don't mind. I have a good job, make a decent living, have four walls and a roof over my head. That's good enough for me. Some of us are quite willing to let other people have the glory. Me, I like blending into the background. Yeah, you might say I have no ambition...but my ambition is to survive.

Being "extraordinary" is overrated - and also too often used as an excuse for people to look down their noses at others whom they judge as not being "evolved" enough.



As Sisko might say: I'M...NOT...PICARD.

Not everyone finds their contentment in life based on their station or their impact on the world as what defines their worth

 

[woodstock]

Picard himself said the man (LtJG Picard) was bereft of passion and imagination. His problem was with the man, not the life. There's no shame in an ordinary life as long as you live with passion and imagination and so forth.