Great Scott! The future came and went with many of us hardly even realizing it ever happened.
By now, Marty McFly is back in 1985 and what we know about his future comes to an end. If you're a Back to the Future fanatic, you're probably left with some questions like "Where is my Pepsi Perfect?" "Why can't we rehydrate pizzas in the comfort of our own home?" And "Why didn't the Cubs make it to the World Series?"
The future failed us. Perhaps I should say that we failed ourselves. Our pizza experts failed to make us rehydratable pizza. We don't wear color-changing baseball caps. Our ties are pitifully similar to the ones that our forefathers wore in 1985. The future is now, but the future isn't here. If it weren't for Steve Jobs, we wouldn't be able to talk to each other face to face through our phones like we are Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. If you feel let down, I understand. I am let down too.
We have "hoverboards," sure. Do they float above the ground? No. Do they fly through the air like space skateboards? No. They're just glorified Segways without handles. Hoverboards my uncle Emmett Brown.
How does a Back to the Future fan learn how to cope in this uncertain future? How do we navigate without October 21, 2015, as our northern star? The answer is simple: we power forward. We move through life at 88 miles per hour. We become the innovators, the dream makers, and the greatest minds of our time.
We stop thinking about how cool it would be to live in the 2015 world of Back to the Future II and start thinking about how to make the real 2015 world a better place in whatever way we have been uniquely gifted for brightening it.
Though they didn't hit the market right in time, self-lacing shoes are on the way and for the best reasons possible. Nike's power lace shoes will be hitting the market in 2016. The proceeds from the shoes will being going to the Michael J. Fox foundation. Fox recently got to try out a pair for himself.
If you asked Michael J. Fox in 1989 what his life would be like in 2015, I highly doubt he would have predicted what it actually turned to be. Fox was at the height of his career and was one of Hollywood's hottest celebrities in 1989. Today, he is a loving family man who is battling Parkinson's disease with strength and hope.
Through his struggles, Fox has shown how to have strength in the face of adversity and has become a hero among fellow Parkinson's sufferers. If you ask me, that's a lot cooler than being Hollywood's hottest celeb.
The future is rarely as impressive as movies make is seem when it actually roles around, but it can serve as a reminder of how we can make our world equally as bright although in different ways.
So, my fellow humans, ask not what the future can do for you, but what you can do for the future.
(And if you can figure out how to rehydrate pizza, I'd really appreciate that.)
