ROBERY BLY:
[at A Gathering of Men]
Robert Moore, from Chicago, is a wonderful man.
He’s beginning to do work with Men.
He’s got about 11 degrees.
And I heard him the other day.
And one of the things he said,
“Men do not learn except in ritual space.”
I was astounded at the idea.
“Men do not learn except in ritual space.”
And he said,
“I know from talking to the men who have been there that you set up a ritual space.”
How you don’t know how you do it, but it’s done.
And partly it’s done because no women are there, partly it’s done because it’s in The Woods, partly it’s done because older men are there.
Now we take all the older men we have, over 60, we put them all in the front row.
You can imagine how that helps with ritual space.
These men that I used to ask to sit in the front here, they had never been honored as an older man in their whole life.
They couldn’t believe it.
1st MAN AT GATHERING:
Can we do that now?
BLY:
Should we do it? Let’s do it.
All the men over 55, would you come up here and sit down in the front row?
[applause]
Will you come down?
Come on over here.
[NCC-1701 Bridge]
(Complete with sound effect, they did a great job of recreating it for us. The viewscreen has the ubiquitous orange planet on it. Scott goes to his old station and pours a drink.)
SCOTT:
Here's to you, lads.
PICARD:
I hope I'm not interrupting.
I was just coming off duty and I wanted to see how you were doing.
SCOTT:
Not at all, not at all.
Have a drink with me, Captain.
PICARD:
Thank you.
SCOTT:
I don't know what it is, exactly, but I would be real careful.
It's real —
(Picard knocks it back in one)
PICARD:
Aldebaran whiskey.
Who do you think gave it to Guinan?
SCOTT:
Ah.
PICARD:
Constitution class.
SCOTT:
Aye. You're familiar with them?
PICARD:
There's one in the Fleet museum, but then of course, this is your Enterprise?
SCOTT:
I actually served on two.
This was the first.
She was also the first ship I ever served on as Chief Engineer.
You know, I served aboard eleven ships.
Freighters, cruisers, starships, but this is the only one I think of.
The only one I miss.
PICARD:
The first ship I ever served aboard as Captain was called the Stargazer.
It was an overworked, underpowered vessel, always on the verge of flying apart at the seams.
In every measurable sense, my Enterprise is far superior.
But there are times when I would give almost anything to command the Stargazer again.
SCOTT:
It's like the first time you fall in love.
You don't ever love a woman quite like that again.
Well, to the Enterprise and the Stargazer.
Old girlfriends we'll never meet again.
PICARD:
What do you think of the Enterprise- D?
SCOTT:
She's a beauty, with a good crew.
PICARD: But?
SCOTT:
But. When I was here, I could tell you the speed that we were traveling by the feel of the deckplates.
But on your ship, I feel like I'm just in the way.
PICARD:
Seventy five years is a long time.
If you would care to study some technical schematics or —
SCOTT:
I'm not eighteen.
I can't start out like a raw cadet.
No, there comes a time when a man finds that he can't fall in love again.
He knows that it's time to stop.
I don't belong on your ship.
I belong on this one.
This was my home.
This is where I had a Purpose.
But it's not real.
It's just a computer generated fantasy.
And I'm just an old man who's trying to hide in it.
Computer, shut this bloody thing off.
It's time I acted my age.
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