What a bizarre night. My dreams were absolutely bonkers. I don’t even know where to start. What I can say is the star of the show was a certain diva who I deeply admire and what happened next was a very bizarre sci fi epic I can’t even begin to explain. It was a bizarre cross between Starship Troopers, Avatar, and NuTrek. And things went very badly for Earth and now out of desperation the survivors look for a new home, find it, but those who end up in charge don’t care that it’s already inhabited. So the protagonist and their love interest, who is, well, voiced by someone special, has to figure out how to stop her own people from ruining a really cool, primitive, but fascinating civilization at all costs. And the crystals that terraforming machines would destroy that hold the key to universal life itself.
I need to remember the other half of the “Peak Performance” episode of Star Trek TNG that I don’t ever mention. I always linger on Picard telling Data how you can do everything right and still lose, because that’s just life. But it’s how Data takes that advice in the end. At the end of the episode, he rematches the guy who beat him at Strategema, but rather than trying to win, Data uses his own superior calculation abilities to keep the game going so long, making moves only to block his opponent, not trying to actually win. Eventually his opponent gives up and tells Data he made a mockery of him. Everybody is like, Data you won! Even Dr. Pulaski who before that point had never quite appreciated Data. But Data correctly says, no, I did not, I maintained a stalemate. Essentially, Data won by not trying to win. He bamboozled his opponent, and eventually in this case, he concedes his victory, because a forfeit by your opponent is as good as any other win.
What I never learned from this is actually a lesson I should’ve learned sooner. One example of making moves and still coming out ahead can be seen in major league franchises that always promise to win but never do. They keep making moves, winning just often enough to keep fans coming back. Sports aren’t about winning. They are about profiting off of the HOPE of winning. Most franchises go through long stale periods without getting much of anything as far as awards or playoff appearances, but their owners keep getting super rich. Now I’m not saying this is a good strategy, but it shows you how overrated “winning” actually is.
To win means keeping people from trying to beat you down. To win means continuing to make moves even when all seems hopeless, moves to maintain a stalemate, because once in a while, you’ll break through and get some small victories, which add up over time. Funny enough, that’s kind of how my life has gone. I never quite “win” but through simply persisting and continuing to maintain a sort of status quo, I did “make it” eventually. Granted, I eventually got super “lucky,” but did I actually make my own luck? Did piling up good karma finally grant me a major victory? And yet, here I am, at a stalemate, but unlike Data, while my opponent has left the room, I don’t have any idea what to do next.
In an unhealthy way, it seems much success these days involves blocking other people from success themselves. That’s not what Data’s unconventional victory intended to teach. But it’s still what’s happened. Perhaps my entire mission at this point should be to UNBLOCK people from success. And I’ve tried doing this previously, but it seemed my support went to the wrong people. So I have to be much pickier. It’s why I keep my comments pretty brief now. Just say what they need to hear at that particular time. Sometimes I just don’t know how to say it so I refrain entirely. Even if I have to start leaving emojis, I should. I need to help others build momentum in order to build myself back up again…
