From Loud as a Whisper to When the Walls fell at Darmok
Jean-Luc Picard played by the now late always great Sir Patrick Stewart did a lot for the work of mediation in his time at the Enterprise's helm.
Whether intervening as the replacement chorus in Loud as Whisper or learning to speak in metaphor in Darmok unlike his predecessor Captain who (as the Firm pointed out in the first and only vinyl single I ever bought) came in peace but shot to kill Picard was always searching for peaceful means (except perhaps with the Borg...)
Regular reader will know that everything I learned outside of formal study comes from the sci-fi/fantasy worlds of Trek, Star Wars and Babylon 5 (with occasional Blake 7 and Stargate influences) but Picard was always captain, my captain not Kirk. Possibly because Stewart delivered lines in more than 3 word bursts and carried a gravitas that Bill Shatner never quite managed (though credit for the ad lib "oh my" in Generations) but more becuase of his approach to peace and problem solving.
How I would like clients to be able to focus on the future, acknowledging that we should "cherish every moment because it will never come again" rather than going full Ahab in sessions and wanting to fire their hearts out all over the session.
"We make mistakes, genetic manipulation or not, nobody's perfect" is perhaps one of the most crucial take aways from JLP's time (ignore the genetic bit) that parents and other clients need to remember, it's how you react to those mistakes in yourself and otehrs which helps you grow or diminishes you.
If indeed what "we leave behind is less important than how we lived" Patrick Stewart leaves behind the legacy of some inspirational moments - and whilst the above focuses on the role I grew up with him playing I don't underplay his work on stage or other films and series as well as his charity work with Refuge which was no doubt influenced by the abuse he witnessed as a child.
Farewell Captain.
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