GEORGE LUCAS: A FORCE FOR LISTENING TO ONE'S INNER VOICE.

Byline: Marcia J. Galles

REAMS have been written about George Lucas, surrounding the rerelease of the ``Star Wars'' trilogy. They've dissected his ``empire,'' analyzed his galaxies, chronicled his life and accomplishments into dull exegesis, even drooled over his warehouse of toys, but the real story is the soul of this exceptionally private man, who serves as warning to us well-meaning, worried parents: Never stop believing in your kids, however grim it looks.

His estimated worth of $5 billion notwithstanding, if parents were to learn only one thing from George Lucas, it will hopefully be the wisdom to let their children follow what they love in life, and to wait patiently for them, while they try.

Lucas is, of course, one of the most remarkable men of the century, yet it wasn't readily apparent in his teen-age years, which is why, as the frustrated mother of a dreamer, I am spellbound by what this unexceptional student managed to accomplish once his passions were inflamed, his mind finally captivated.

It's not hard to imagine Lucas bored in a traditional education. According to a biography by Dale Pollack ``the only thing Lucas looked forward to in high school was educational movies.''

I would wager his lack of interest drove his family nuts. I know I've gone ballistic at the sight of my son's report card. I doubt Lucas' parents were any less thrilled. You look at your child with the brains of the class valedictorian and find yourself instead, having visions of the life of the homeless.

``But `Star Wars' has already been made,'' my 4.0 daughter reminded me recently when discussing her brother. ``What's he going to do?'' What indeed. Still, did Lucas' family have a clue what his future held? With a reportedly D+ grade average, and even his high school graduation in question, one would surmise . . . not a chance.

In the end, encapsulated in Lucas' extraordinary life, is the stuff every mother prays she passes on to her children: belief in oneself, hope in the future, the willingness to work harder than you ever thought possible and more than a dash of courage in the face of risk. Not a bad role model, though certainly not what would have been foreshadowed by his days at Modesto's Thomas Downey High.

Today, on the surface, Lucas is a fascinating enigma. The creator of the most popular space adventures of all time and of high-tech wizardry that defies our understanding, a master of utilizing computer capabilities, it is nonetheless easy to picture him in the 1400s, seated at the table of Lorenzo Medici, bouncing around ideas with the likes of Leonardo DaVinci and the other great Florentine minds of the Renaissance, whose passion was to question everything, and in the process, reinvent the world.

In the same vein, Lucas is our modern explorer of the unknown, the tireless champion of the technologically untried, undaunted by the impossible. A worried mom can only sigh.

One doesn't have to be a screenwriter to recognize the magnitude of Lucas' abilities, and as such, it's perhaps tempting to dismiss his life and work as cosmic accident, that rare combination of talent and luck that enabled him to shine, despite the odds. But to do so is to miss the point.

For ironically, the real gift Lucas will leave his children and the rest of us has little to do with his cheerfully chirping tin cans, his intoxicating blending of the visionary with the familiar. Rather, his greatest lesson is to remind us of the possibilities of life of what we can be at our best. Forget the money and his keen business sense. That's never been what Lucas is about. When all is said and done, the life of Lucas is simply a testament to the wisdom of looking inside ourselves, of blocking out the cacophony around us, of following our own vision and voice.

As adults, and particularly as parents, it's easy to let worry choke off wonder, to grow impatient with dreams and dreamers, to steer our kids and ourselves down safer paths out of fear. Yet Lucas would remind us to have faith in dreams. In a world too often bereft of genuine inspiration, this one man has done more than take us to a galaxy far, far away.

He has shown us what courage is genuinely made of. It is the courage to take risks, to fly.