Don’t Be A Slacker: Lessons Learned From Back to the Future, Part 2

Check out part one here.

Lesson 2: You?re Only As Chicken As You Think You Are

Make like a tree ...

Do you snap anytime somebody calls you a name? Are you partial to wearing power-lacing Nikes and/or jeans with the pockets inside out? If so, you and Marty McFly in ?Back to the Future Part II? have something in common.

While he may have altered history and inspired his father to believe in himself in the first movie, Marty?s still harboring feelings of inferiority from the life he lived before all the time travel business in ?Back to the Future Part II.? This time around -? in an out of left field plot device not once referenced in the first film — he?s snapping anytime someone calls him chicken. That?s right;this butthead loses it over inconsequential grade school insults from people living in different time periods. Overreacting is an understatement.

As a result of his irrational behavior, Marty really screws stuff up for himself. In the first instance of low self-esteem getting the better of him, our hero turns a simple say ?no? and walk away situation with GriffTannen in 2015 into a full-on, hoverboard chase scene that almost costs him and Doc the mission they came to accomplish.? Later on, we see a future Marty lose his future job as a result of this same cowardice. And in the third?chicken? scene, Marty loses the almanac he traveled back to 1955 to recover to Biff Tannen and nearly gets run over in a tunnel trying to get it back. Oh, and as a result of this chain of events, Doc gets sent back to 1885. Good going, Marty.

In both instances, Marty ends up compromising what he set out to do as a result of his lack of confidence. You can cut him a littleslack for his being just 17 years old, but Marty?s actions are a reflection of a man/boy with an inferiority complex. He gives all his power to Griff and Biff in his failure to walk away. Rather than believe in himself, he actually confirms their insults. By responding, he?s actually showing just how much of a chicken he actually is. A confident man doesn?t have to get physical over mere words, especially those coming from numbskulls like the Tannens.

How do you react to insults? Do you brush them off or let them sting? Are you confident enough to know that no one holds power over you or are you just a scared little 17-year-old Huey Lewis fan at heart? How you react to these types of situations shows you confident of a person you are.

Marty has no reason to respond to Biff and Griff?s taunts. A chicken? Hardly. Here?s a high schooler who evades bazooka-carrying Libyans, skateboards like a mofo, plays guitar like a mofo, and oh, let?s see, is the first person to travel through time.

Take a good look at yourself the next time you feel the need to give in to someone?s insults. If you believe in yourself, you?ve got nothing to prove. If you want to give others the power they?re looking for, go ahead and fight.? Unlike Marty, you can?t go back in time and change what you do (unless you?ve got a flux capacitor), so choose wisely. It?s your future.

To be concluded …