so before i dive into tonights topic let me explain where this all comes from...
today i spent the day at cody's house watching Disney princess movies... which he was actually excited about too!! i know, he's a keeper... :D so anyway... we watched 101 dalmatians (no not a princess movie but we started it last night and didnt finish it so we started there), the little mermaid, pocahontas (yes she is a princess), cinderella, sleeping beauty, snow white, and aladdin! (yes in that order...) it was an awesome marathon! so while we were watching pocahontas cody got up to go put some more pumkin cookies in the oven (they were delicious!) and i had a thought. almost all of the princesses in some way or another are told not to talk to/associate with a certain group or race of people by an authority figure of some kind, disobey, and in that 'forbidden group' end up finding their true love and living happily ever after (even tho the screen doesnt say that on all of them we all know thats what happens lets get real). i know you know these stories but just in case you dont and to point out the parts i would like to focus on here is a brief synopsis of each:
Ariel: her father forbids her to have anything to do with humans. he does this because he believes that humans are dangerous. but she disobeys him, becomes a human for three days, and gets to know and falls in love with prince eric, then ends up marrying him.
Cinderella: her evil step-mother forbids her from going to the ball and does everything in her power to keep her away from the ball, and then from trying on the shoe. the step-mother does this because she wants her daughters to become queens and she thinks that they are in a higher class than simple, sooty, working cinderella. with the help of her fairy godmother and mice friends cinderella goes to the ball and gets to try on the glass slipper proving she is the one prince charming loves.
Pocahontas: her father forbids not only her but the whole tribe from going anywhere near/having anything to do with the white settlers. he does this because they are dangerous and are trying to take over the land. motivated by her determination for peace and following her dreams pocahontas disobeys her father and meets and falls in love with john smith. she ends up having to let him go but because of their love they were able to stop a war and save a lot of lives.
Mulan: she was told her whole life never to speak in front of a man out of turn and to never try to fight for her beliefs. she is taught this because it would bring shame and dishonor to her family. she disobeys everything shes ever been told when she steals her fathers orders to appear for training for the army to save his life. she ends up not only finding who she is and her true love, but also ends up saving all of china and brings great honor and respect to her familys name.
Aurora: she is hidden away in a small cottage in a forest to protect her. she is told not to talk to strangers and not to have anything to do with anyone other than the three sweet ladies who raised her. she didnt know why but always listened until her 16th birthday when she found prince phillip (the most attractive of all the princes, jussayin'... :D) because of this she found true love.
Rapunzel: she was told never to leave a tower and never to associate with anyone. she was told that they would only hurt her and would try to steal her magic hair and try to use her powers for their own benefit. she was told this by her 'mother' who actually was just using her for her magic hair because she wanted to stay young and protect herself. when rapunzel decided to go out into the world on her own she gained experience and a life she had never known, found her real parents, and fell in love.
Jasmine: was kept inside the castle and not allowed to leave and find someone she really loved, but rather was forced to meet parades of princes and choose one to marry. this happened because she needed to get married and she needed to marry royalty because it was what was expected of her. when she escaped and took a look at life outside of the castle walls she gained experience that would help her to be a better leader and lead her to true love.
Belle: she is a little different than all the others. she is not told not to associate with the beast and his servants who are all objects rather than people, but it is not something anyone else was willing to do. they were different and out of the ordinary and therefore scary. but when she befriended them she ended up creating some great relationships, falling in love, and breaking a spell. all this happened because she was willing to accept them regardless of how different they may have been, which leads to my point.
thinking about this helped me to realize something. (and no it is not that disobeying your parents will let you find true love... not the point here). each of these girls was forbidden from associating with a certain group of people because they were different. but each one of these girls stood up for what they believed in and accepted those who were different because it was the right thing to do. this made them true princesses. they were not only princesses because their dads were kings, chiefs, or sultans, but they became TRUE princesses because they knew what was right and stood by it no matter what. accepting those who are different from us is something that is right. it is something that is important and is something that a lot of people say they do, but do they actually? i know everyones natural reaction is to say no to the following questions, but look inside yourself and really think about the answers and be honest with yourself. do you stop and stare or roll your eyes or look down on someone who is overweight? do you cough loudly or glare at someone who is smoking a cigarette? do you laugh at the boy at school with braces, glasses, and an inhaler for being a 'nerd' and having the 4.0 that you wish you could have? do you judge those around you by what they wear? their skin color? what they believe? their opinions? or their families? how often do we not allow ourselves to associate with others because theyre different than us? a lot more than we would like to admit i think. its time for us to step up and become the true princes and princesses that we were meant to be. accept those who are different than us, and not only accept them, but befriend them. we need to become the type of people who find out what is right and stand by it. we need to step up to the plate and decide now to become true princes and princesses... because that is who we are destined to become.
"Our greatest strength as a human race is our ability to acknowledge our differences. Our greatest weakness is our failure to embrace them." -Judith Henderson
No comments:
Post a Comment