Just Can’t Wait…To Be King: What I Learned From The Lion King

In the Beginning

On a Friday evening, June 24, 1994, I went to see a movie opening at my local theater.  Unfortunately, unlike my amazing jet setting sister, I wasn’t invited to the Hollywood premiere where I could marvel at all the celebrities walking down the red carpet. I was simply buying a ticket – or so I mistakenly thought – to watch just another movie.

This movie had been hyped all winter and spring.  The critics claimed that it was groundbreaking for its utilization of computers and 3-D imaging.  The movie went on to win a host of awards. Unbeknownst to me, at the time that I entered the theater, I was about to see something that would have a profound effect on my life.

The Lion King: When a Movie is More Than Entertainment

That evening I watched the most inspiring story that I had ever seen; a story about the love a father had for his son, a story about a father teaching his son how to be a true leader and a story where a son comes to fully understand his awesome responsibility to not only himself but to the greater humanity.  I saw a story that June evening where a son placed great value on his father’s life and where the father was not only the son’s hero but best friend.

The movie captured what I know now as some of the highs and lows of parenting.  The movie today has encouraged me to start writing a second book on the rules of parenting (more about that later).  The movie of which I am referring was recently re-released and I highly recommend it to all fathers.

On June 24, 1994, one year and three days from the day my Benevolent King aka Supaman was born (June 27, 1995), I watched a movie which not only helped me realize how much I actually looked forward to being a father but I saw something that encapsulated the type of relationship I hoped to have with my child.  The movie that changed my life was none other than Disney’s animation The Lion King.

http://youtu.be/gvQNp1NMg5Q

A Man’s Law Violation

By my admission that I voluntarily and willingly bought a ticket to watch a children’s animated movie, I know that I have probably broken another one of those “Man Laws”. Truth be told, I will almost certainly break several other “Man Laws” throughout the life of this blog. While I am confessing to another “Man Law” indiscretion, I may as well plead guilty to the internal feelings and external expressions of laughter, sadness, anger, stillness, exhilaration and disappointment I experienced while watching The Lion King.

I was guilty on many more counts of “Man Law” violation, as I sat motionless in the theater when the movie ended.  While the credits rolled across the screen and the other viewers exited the theater  I wanted to exit as well but I could not move.  At that moment, I was only able to muster enough energy to lower my head so that I could avoid being seen.  Contrary to what you might be thinking, I did not lower my head out of embarrassment.

I felt no shame of being in a theater which was almost exclusively occupied by small children and their parents.  I lowered my head because I was crying uncontrollably. I had no immediate explanation for what was occurring but I was crying like one does when they find out someone they love has passed.

Surely, the death of an animated Lion could not elicit the same emotions as the loss of a living breathing human being.  What in the world was wrong with me?  Suddenly it hit me like Rafiki hitting Simba on the head with his stick.  I had been emotionally jarred by the depiction of the kind of relationship I longed to share with my own father.

Children of All Ages Need Fathers

The movie reminded me of just how fractured my relationship was with my father.  For the initial few moments that the crowd exited the theater, I had a profound sense of hopelessness.  I feared any hope of ever experiencing the type of unconditional love that I had just watched.  Almost as quickly as my feelings of foreboding had appeared, I started to feel strangely optimistic.  My tears went from tears of angst to tears of joy.

As I pondered my rapidly changing emotions, I realized the movie was about a father and his newborn son and not about a middle-aged father and his twenty-something son.  I realized that while my father and I might never be able to share the relationship that Mufasa and Simba shared, my child and I could.

The Pledge: To Be King

At that precise moment, I pledged to God, myself and the child that I would someday have that I would be Mufasa and my child would be Simba.  For nearly seventeen years, for each and every millisecond of every day, I have lived out that pledge as the one incontrovertible truth in my life and I have lived my pledge and will continue to do so unashamedly, unapologetically and without equivocation.

From the instant that I knew my son had been conceived to this very moment, I have loved my son as deeply and as purposeful as Mufasa loved Simba.

On that memorable day in June, I first understood on the deepest level what is expected of one who is to be called “dad” and “father”.  As I sat in my theater seat crying like an overgrown baby, I recognized that until the day I die and my body becomes the grass that the antelope eat, I am responsible for making sure that my son knows and remembers:

1. who he is;
2. that he knows I am his pal;
3. that he knows he is the descendant of great kings and queens;
4. that he knows I will protect and defend him against anything and anyone;
5. that he knows that the world is his and all the opportunities that he can conceive;
6. that he knows there are consequences for every action or inaction;
7. that he understands as a true king – he must practice obedience and patience;
8. that he knows that there are limits to where and how far he should go;
9. that he knows it is a must for him to have a great appreciation for all living things and
10. that he knows that even when my physical presence has departed from this earth I will always be with him.

In one hour and twenty-seven minutes, The Lion King crystallized all the responsibilities of a father for me.  Thanks to an animated movie, I had a renewed spirit and hope for my life and the future.  My tears of pain had turned into tears of joy.  I realized that I was not doomed to suffer the poor relationship with my father as I understood that just like Mufasa, I could have a son who I could raise to be king.