Why do we love the movie Back to the Future?

The characters are memorable—so much so that we can hear them almost audibly when we read the lines.

"That's heavy doc."

"Great Scott!"

"Why don't you make like a tree....and get outta of here!"

"Lorraine, my density has brought me to you"

"So you're my uncle Joey. Better get use to these bars kid."

The script is clever, fun, and original. It's a story that has stood the test of time.

The film taps into a deep desire to return to a time that we knew and understood with the knowledge of things yet to come. The past always seems brighter in our memory because it no longer exists in the unknown.

What would we do if we could go back in time armed with concrete knowledge of the Future?

Imagine the wealth we could build, relationships we could avoid, or anxieties we could set aside.

The Future, on the other hand, has no obligation to show up according to our expectations.

It's not on contract with us to make our plans succeed.

The Future also escapes our judgment—there's not much we can do about a day that hasn't produced any results. We don’t know what tomorrow will look like. Ultimately, the hours of tomorrow refuse to be bound by our machinations. Most of us are fortunate enough to have some predictability, but it's limited. If time travel were possible, then the Future would become subservient to our agendas, dreams, and comforts.

Whenever the unexpected sucker punches and knocks the wind out of my aspirations, I find myself wishing I could hit the rewind button on my life so I could either dodge or block that unexpected blow. If I allow myself to dwell on that thought for too long, I find myself wishing I could rewind the story further, enabling me to make different life choices.

If we all had that ability, we'd be walking away from a value we all admire-courage. Courage is the root of everything that has meaning in our lives today and pushes us uphill to discover what lies beyond the horizon. This drives Marty McFly to protect the past and save everything he holds dear in the present. I tend to apply this treatment to my regret frequently as a balm. My family, friends, and career are only here because of an unqualified trusting relationship with the future. Based on the film’s use of time mechanics, I’d risk everything I care about if I changed the past.

“There are many parts of my youth that I’m not proud of. There were loose threads, untidy parts of me that I would like to remove. But when I pulled on one of those threads, it unraveled the tapestry of my life.”- Jean-Luc Picard (yes, I had to bring him into this )

Speaking practically for a moment, if you want to advance your career, take steps forward and take on new roles. We all have to pay the bills, and there are seasons in our lives when we need to do what we need to do to buy groceries. But if we have the choice to blaze a new trail on our resume, we should seize that opportunity. Yes, there are risks, but there are often great rewards.

Having the courage to move forward also has implications for us politically as North America heads into a season of elections. Yes, we can learn from the past, but fear can bully us into returning to it. Don't let someone sell you on the idea that you should demand a refund for a future that hasn't arrived yet and rob you of an opportunity to strengthen courage and resilience.

The road that leads to a brighter future is the one that is always under construction. To take that idea even further, the road to a brighter future can’t be reached with conventional roads- we can only get there with courage, innovation, and vision.

“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”

“Your future hasn't been written yet! No one's has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one!” - Doc Brown.

Thanks for reading friend,