Do I need to explain what the Lion King is? Everyone knows that the Lion King is one of the most popular children’s movie of all time and I think it’s safe to say that most people have seen the film. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend you give it a try considering its huge effect on the millennial generation.

As we all know, Lion King tells the story of Simba the prince of the lion pride and kingdom and his story of reclaiming his father’s throne from his evil uncle after running away due to the guilt from his father’s death.

I think once we peel away all the humor and fun songs from the movie I think the most important scene in the movie that affected me the most was the scene above. It taught me a valuable lesson that has stuck with me until today.

This is the turning point in the movie. Simba was overloaded with guilt from the role he felt he played in his father’s death. He couldn’t handle and as a result ran away from his problems and responsibilities allowing Pride Rock to be overrun by Scar and his hyenas. He’s spent most of his time in Hakuna Matata trying to run away from his painful past. Once Nala, his childhood friend, finds him and informs him what has become of his home and makes him realizes that he’s at a crossroad. Does Simba go back, risk his life to save Pride Rock, and finally come to terms with his father’s death or does he stay in Hakuna Matata and live a comfy life away from all his problems.

Of course, being the protagonist that he is, Simba knows that he has to go back and save his people but he’s terrified. While contemplating this decision he runs into Rafiki, the wise old baboon. Simba says how he’s scared of change and then Rafiki hits Simba in the head. Simba asks “What was that for” and Rafiki says “It doesn’t matter, it’s in the past” and Simba reminds Rafiki that it still hurt. Rafiki answers Simba with the line that pushes him to do the right thing and it really resonated with me.

Rafiki says “The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it”

This line is extremely important. Just like a bump on the head the past could really hurt and sometimes even leave a scar but you have a choice; you could either run from it or learn from it.

Life isn’t a movie, you won’t always win. More often than not you’ll lose more than you win. It’s a tough reality to accept but you have to. When it comes to chasing your dreams you might fail at first but you can’t let one failure make you stop trying. You can’t away from it you have to learn from it.Learn from your mistakes. I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all made mistakes and have failed in the past but we can’t allow that to prevent us from chasing our dreams.

Albert Einstein once said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” Keep learning from your mistakes and keep trying because it’s better to try and fail than to never try and dream about what could have been.