How's it going, America,
Check out our latest episode of The Pod Millennial! I talk to Dave Stotts, host of Drive-Thru History and The Road Less Traveled, about Catholic history, the influence of the early martyrs, where Mary spent her final days, the resurgence of faith in the US, and so much more! One of my all-time favorite episodes. New episodes drop every Tuesday! Listen, rate (5 stars, of course!), and subscribe!
Let's get into it:
Sir Patrick Stewart's death was announced by his family on Thursday, and the world of Star Trek will never be the same. Stewart wasn't just Captain Jean-Luc Picard, he was a Shakespearean actor, Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men, and so many more roles, but to me, and to so many of us, he will always be Jean-Luc Picard. I have always loved Star Trek: The Next Generation, it inspires resilience, strength, imagination, and a yen for exploration.
I was on Tim Pool's Timcast IRL last night and got to talk to Tim about it, who is a fellow Trekkie like me. What Stewart did as Picard, was elevate sci-fi with his skill as an actor, bringing the kind of integrity, self-respect, rationalism, and ethics to all of us who were watching. He gave us a space explorer role model who works hard to always do what's right, who is loyal, dedicated, and above all else perseveres.
I've always kind of felt like there's a part of me inside that can't be hurt, or impacted, a part of myself that is so resilient that no matter what bad things happen, or how much I am clobbered by life, that part of me remains strong and uninjured. And I think that was true of Picard and it was true of Picard because Stewart gave that to him and it was true of Stewart too.
There must be a want within us to be strong, to strive to do what is morally right even as we struggle with definitions or decisions. That drive must be there for us to endeavor to be good men and women. And we must endeavor because if we do not all is lost to chaos. It is that chaos that eventually drew me back to church. The Catholic Mass has no chaos. There is room for everything, but there is no madness.
In Star Trek, I feel the show was always striving to exist along essentially Christian secular lines without ever mentioning the deity that gave us the laws that are best laid out to govern us, those being the 10 Commandments and the Beatitudes.
I often think of these not just as religious ideas, but as societal advancements. How much better is a society where thou shalt not murder? How much better is a life where thou shalt no covet? And how much stronger is a heart that knows to show mercy, that knows to speak what's right even in the face of persecution?
Star Trek also showed us that one does not have to be religious to follow this path, to live by this moral and ethical code. I don't believe Stewart was a religious man, but his Picard sure was a righteous one.
There's lots of other stuff going on: looks like there's a half dozen ways Ilhan Omar engaged in immigration fraud and that it was known as far back as the Obama administration. Speaking of Obama, he's flip-flopped on his anti-Cheesecake Factory thing after he realized all Americans are not effete snobs who hate French-dipped cheeseburgers like he is. And Israel is no closer to forming a government.
I hope you have a great weekend! Perfect fall weather in these Appalachian hills to celebrate Halloween and All Saints' Day!
Libby