Ringside Report Remembers Back to the Future…

By Joyce Davis

Growing up we watched a lot of TV. In essence it was an escape from real life but it was also something to jump start your imagination. One of my favorite movies was Back to the Future. It was a magical movie to me. The concept was out there but at the same time I thought “oh yeah this could really happen”. I fell in love with the two main characters Marty McFly and the Doc, Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd. This movie was where I learned I loved time travel movies and I wanted more after seeing it.

I grew up with Michael J Fox in the tv show Family Ties. Now that I think back about the show I realize I liked Ronald Reagan for two reasons, Family ties and Land of Confusion video by Genesis. I had no clue what Republican or Democrat was. My mom did not in any way follow politics. I just knew that Alex P. Keaton loved Ronald Reagan and he was passionate about what he was talking about so I wanted to love what he loved. Bless my little naïve heart.

When Michael J Fox was diagnosed with MS, I thought that it would be the end of his career. It was not. He showed to the world that you could have a disease that debilitates and still have a career. It was Michael J Fox that made me aware of the disease. I knew that there were people with MS before then I just never saw them. It was something you read about in papers or books but you did not understand. He made me understand it more. He put a face to it and he humanized it for me.

As I get older I reflect on the things that captured me as I grew up. Recently seeing a photo of Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd brought a host of memories from a time of innocence and believing that anything could happen. I remember the hoverboard in the movie. I often wondered when the hoverboard was invented in real life if it would have ever existed if Back to the Future never existed. It is my firm belief that those things we write about from our imaginations are the things that shape the future. If you can imagine it you can make it happen. Although we have not yet gone back in time or jumped to the future there are bits and pieces of the story we connected to that made it real life stuff.

I am thankful for what they added to history. I am also thankful to Michael J Fox for saying he will not allow a disease to stop him from living. That is a message we all need to see. Dealing with the things that I dealt with I needed that message. Just because you have ailments does not mean you are counted out.

I doubt if we’ll ever get another instalment of the movie. Maybe they will remake it using today’s technology. If they do or don’t I am glad to have it as a part of my growing years. To help me imagine all that life could offer. I was glad to see the two of them reunite with a great big hug.

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