Duck! Lesson Learned

A high school classmate and friend recently shared this image with me.

 I have referred to this sentiment for as long as I can remember. In all the mistakes I have made, I always tried to learn and move forward. I have also believed the lesson I was learning, no matter how painful, would teach me something I would need to know in my future.

Many times I have watched my children struggle through life’s sadness. I remember a specific time when one of my son’s was going through a very difficult situation in middle school. One day, as we were traveling together in the car, we discussed his circumstance. It was a very sad time for me to watch and listen to him share his story. He was miserable. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do for him, or on his behalf. We all know what it feels like when our children are hurting. We want to console our children, we also want to protect them. I guess these feelings created the adage, “Mother Bear!” 

As we talked about strategies and options, he brought up the Disney movie, “The Lion King”. There is a scene in the movie where Rafiki (the wise counselor) hit Simba on the head with this staff…Simba immediately rubbed his head in pain and Rafiki, in answer to why he did that, said, “It doesn’t matter, it is in the past. The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.” My son pointed out that as Rafiki made the move to hit Simba again, Simba ducked. He learned.

The incident my son struggled with came and went. He survived and learned a lot! From that moment on, whenever anyone in our family has dealt with a painful experience…he reminds us…”the pain is in the past”. He definitely looks to the future and brings his life lessons with him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZfGTL2PY3E You can watch the scene by clicking here J