I’m excited to start a new blog series: My Obscure Role Models.  Each week I will be focusing on a lesser known character from various TV shows and movies that have become role models to me.  And with all the buzz around the latest Star Wars movie these days, the first role model I’ll showcase comes from this storied franchise…The Empire Strikes Back, to be exact.  My Obscure Role Model of the week is none other than Lando Calrissian, played by the iconic Billy Dee Williams.  Now if you don’t know who Lando Calrissian is, you’ve either been living under a rock for the last forty years or you’re my mom.  Because of this, I won’t spend a lot of time giving the backstory here.  In a nutshell, Lando was an old friend of Han Solo’s and ended up helping to set a trap that turned the Rebels over to Darth Vader and the evil Empire and sent Han with a bounty hunter named Boba Fett to be delivered to Jabba the Hutt.

I vividly remember, as a kid, watching the scene where the door opens and we see Darth Vader.  I was briefly confused before I realized it was a set-up and Lando had betrayed one of his best friends.  It was so devastating that I took this deception personally.  I wanted his character written out of the story and him sent back to being the spokesperson for Colt 45 beer.  I held on to this bitterness until the next Star Wars movie, Return of the Jedi, came to theaters a few years later.  This theatrical masterpiece opens up with a daring rescue scene.  Luke Skywalker and a small team of friends defy the odds and do what they can to spring Han Solo free from his carbonite freezing chamber.  His friends include Princess Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, Chewbacca, and to my dismay…Lando Calrissian!

The rescue mission was a success.  And after years of hating Lando with a white-hot passion, it only took about twenty minutes for him to become one of my all-time favorite Star Wars heroes and this week’s Role Model!  And here’s why.  Lando’s character was all about redemption.  And the redemption story should resonate with every single one of us.  It’s just so identifiable.  We all make mistakes.  We’re human.  They can’t be avoided.  But the mistakes we make in our lives don’t matter nearly as much as what we choose to do next.  We can wallow in self-pity.  We can make excuses and justify what we’ve done.  We can become bitter or angry.

Or we can change direction.  We can learn from our mistake and grow from it.  We can’t go back in time and erase poor decisions, but we can make sure we don’t repeat them.  And we can grow from these experiences and make sure we make the right decisions the next time we’re thrown into tough times.  It takes humility and determination, but it can be done.  Lando made a mistake.  But we Star Wars fans don’t let that define him.  We know him better as a friend to the Rebel Alliance who had a crucial role in the fall of the Empire.  The lesson Lando and many many others have taught us is that we will not be remembered for our mistakes.  We will be remembered for who we become from them.

Thanks for reading…and May The Force Be With You!