Run, Forrest. Run! Your Destiny Will Catch Up

A note to young leaders.

Fate. Luck. Destiny. The three great forces shaping every human life.

Fate and luck deal the cards. Destiny is how you play them.

I re-watched Forrest Gump last weekend with my kids. I had remembered it as a light-hearted satire, but from the very first scene – Forrest sitting on a park bench, a feather floating aimlessly in the breeze – the movie reminds us: life is part given, part chosen.

Forrest is born with physical and intellectual disabilities, to a father who abandoned him. That’s fate. In Vietnam, he is shot “in the buttocks” earning him an easy ticket home to safety. That’s luck.

But also in Vietnam, Forrest risks his life to save his best friend (who dies), and his commanding officer, Lieutenant Dan (who lives). After the war, Forrest starts a shrimping business with Dan. When a freak hurricane strikes, their boat becomes the only one left standing – and the business flourishes. That’s destiny.

The feather can land anywhere; what matters is what you do when it lands at your feet. Forrest picks it up and keeps it. He meets fate and luck with steadfast decency. He keeps promises, tells the truth, forgives those who hurt him, and through it all remains a loyal friend.

Decency is karma, and karma is a boomerang.

That’s why you need never chase after your destiny. Stay true to your ideals, give it all you’ve got, never give up – and your destiny will come chasing after you.

“And that’s all I have to say about that.”