From: Masako Goto
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 12:03:39 -0500 (EST)
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: (Backpost) Conversation at Dinner
SD 90317.2005 (GMT)
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Officer's Mess
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MD 1.2140
After a rather impromptu discussion on matters philosophical with the First
Officer, Anne turned her attention to Commander th'Tellan.
She well remembered his final advice to her before leaving the Bridge, and
she decided that she'd like to find out what he meant. She searched her
memory for an appropriate question, then settled on the most obvious and
simple. She suddenly looked up from her plate and fixed the Second Officer
with a direct gaze.
"Commander th'Tellan," she said, just loudly enough for him to hear but not
so loudly that it would catch the attention of the three officers seated at
the other end of the table, "how do you define insanity?"
th'Tellan looked up at Murray. "Come to my office tomorrow. You'll learn
the precise definition in 15 minutes."
"Er, actually, I was wondering about the advice that you gave earlier. You
said something about how I should go insane, and I... um..."
"The advice was to go insane as soon as you could, because it was the only
way to save your sanity. And now, you want an explanation?" Murray nodded.
"Okay. The first thing that you must realize is that I've switched
definitions halfway through the saying. Both of them, however, deal with
different aspects of unusual behavior. Are you with me so far?
"Okay, now any job, especially in Starfleet, causes various unusual
behaviors. Unusual situations, stress, unavoidable failures, and so on. A
lot of times, people respond to this by losing their sanity. That is, they
become control freaks, or rigid beaurocrats, or clinically depressed. And so
on.
"In order to counteract this, the only choice is to go insane. In fact, such
a move can make you a BETTER officer. That's where you become creative,
optimistic..."
"I'm not sure about how this applies to insanity. Wouldn't that classify as
sane?"
"Sort of. What I'm talking about is an extreme form of one to counteract an
extreme form of another. For example, if the only logical conclusion is to
cut your losses, because every indication shows that you can't succeed, your
best option is to be optimistic about your total success -- an insane
conclusion. Another example would be... Have you ever howled at the moon,
Lieutenant?"
"Sir?"
"You know, howled at the moon. I mean it's a little hard to do that
on a spaceship, but you can always lock yourself up on a holodeck and howl at
a virtual moon."
"No, I don't believe that I've ever done that."
"Why not?"
Murray began to wonder if th'Tellan had escaped from any asylums recently.
She also began to wonder why the counselor was bugging her instead of him.
"Well, I... er... I guess that I never really thought that it was
necessary..."
"You're worried that an action is insane. Don't worry, I don't mind. Being
insane is the entire point. You see, you strike me as the type of person who
takes life too seriously. The slightest failure, and you go ballistic.
Don't worry, most people are like that to some degree or another, me
especially. But anyway, since life ISN'T meant to be taken that seriously,
every once in a while you have to remind yourself that. And to do something
so strange that you have to stop taking yourself seriously is the easiest way
to do that."
"So... Are you insane?" asked Anne, completely baffled by this response. His
scores were well off the scale; in fact, she couldn't even recall which
psychometric scale she was using.
"Not as much as I'd like to be. As a SCIO, I had the chance to do unusual
things, especially since everyone else was very professional and
conservative. Here, I'm in an administrative position, and I'm practically
the only one capable of being a stabilizing force. So, I've got to be sober
-- cold sane. A beaurocrat in other words."
"So, you don't believe in being insane all the time."
"No, of course not. You need to be insane in times of crisis, or when
creativity is needed, or when you have to deal with a personal problem. At
other times, especially those calling for conservatism, you need to be insane
only to the extent that you don't lose your sanity. Is that clear?"
"I suppose so," said Anne uncertainly. The combined effects of Commander
Brennan's sudden interest in philosophy and the decided strangeness of her
present conversation partner were taking its toll, and Anne's social skills
were spiraling downward at a frightening rate. "You seem... very assured of
yourself," she ventured.
"You could say that," replied the Second Officer comfortably. "I'm just
insane enough to be creative and useful, and just sane enough to keep
everyone happy and to do my job effectively."
"I see," said Anne. "Thank you, Commander th'Tellan, for your most...
interesting views." She quickly bent over her plate, her cheeks nearly as red
as the replicated strawberries on her plate.
On the one hand, Commander th'Tellan had been most accommodating and stable,
unshaken by her questions. It was a relief after three near-tragedies and
faux pas. On the other hand, the Second Officer was certainly a very
stranger person... and Anne wasn't at all sure that she knew him any better
than when she had first started.
Respectfully submitted,
Masako Goto Melvin Pollack
Lt. Murray, Ph.D. Lt.Cmdr. th'Tellan
CSciO OPS/2O
USS CHESAPEAKE NCC-31813 USS CHESAPEAKE NCC-31813
I realize that this is coming out rather late, but here it is. :)
Just to give everyone the context of this post, since it's nearly 2 game
days in the past... the Senior Officers already on board the CHESAPEAKE
attended a Senior Officers Dinner in the Officer's Mess on MD 1.2100.
Officers attending (for reference) were: CO, XO, OPS, CSO, CSciO, CMO
(who left early and was gone at the time of this post), CNS.
Melvin: If you have any problems with how I handled this, please let me
know... does th'Tellan *really* expect her to howl at a moon???
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Thought for the day: If you were abandoned on a desert island, what is
the first thing you would do?
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