Journey Uphill
Rafiki is one of my favourite characters from Disney’s ‘The Lion King’. I realised when Simba was sad from the tragic loss of his father and was abandoned by his friends for being purposeless and nihilistic in life. To escape this perpetual feeling, Simba flees away from his Kingdom, Pride Land. At an odd moment, he meets Rafiki, the advisor of his kingdom. Rafiki, as an old wise man, speaks to the inner self of Simba when he needed someone the most to find his lost identity and meaning of his life. He helps Simba rediscover himself when all he was lost, hurt, weak and drowned in the memories of his father and shouldering the guilt of his father’s death.
Simba follows Rafiki to find the answers to lessen the burden he was carrying. After a long chase near a pond, a pebble grabs his attention where he sees him reflected as a strong and mighty king, not the immature and adult child he was. As a light sparks in the sky, Simba recalls his father and begs for help from him. The Spark reminds him of his father, and he follows the light-tail until it disappears.
Simba sits down sadly again, but Rafiki hits him with his stick — an overhead swing to show how other things (as his stick) can hurt if you are drowned in memories, regrets, and the past. Rafiki reminds him that if he can’t let go of his past, he slowly will degrade and lose his very present that has a promising future. He encourages him to accept his past voluntarily and easily, reminding him that, “An invented past can be useful; yes, It cracks and crumbles under the pressures of life like clay in a season of drought, but it will always bolster you up to make the right choices and save you from drowning in the hardest time when you need yourself the most.” Then, he cracks jokes, tells riddles and solves puzzles to encourage Simba to remember his forthcoming responsibilities for his kingdom and for his father’s sacrifice.
Rafiki tells Simba that, in the course of being, we rise and fall and cry and smile, and it is inevitable. But we can transcend through the hurdles and challenges on our path and drive the journey to becoming who we aspire to be. We do mistakes, terrible mistakes. We rant and curse ourselves as we grow mature and realise by digging deeper into ourselves. Realising all of this could be painful for a moment. Well, It must be, Rafiki says, “but you either run away from it so you don’t get hurt or learn from it.” What has been done can not be reversed, but what remains to be done can be done with a better you.
After all, anything that happens is not always a positive experience. However, if you frame it right, then almost all the experiences do shape you constructively. I believe that if you correctly articulate your thoughts, have good coping skills, resilience, and believe that you are truly in control of your actions, you can learn something from just about any struggle.
Simba begins to feel better after carefully listening to Rafiki’s wise words, so the next time Rafiki illustrates his point, he again swings his stick at Simba. But Simba ducks, demonstrating that he has learned from his pain and past and won’t get hurt again, even though this time it was not overhead, but the hardest, a full cross-body swing. But he saves himself from getting hurt by learning from his experience and loss.
We all need Rafiki (who knows the way) to guide us through difficult times in life, particularly when we’re growing up and are highly potent and capable of slaying the dragon. We are dynamite in our 20s. We have to conquer the shadow and fear of the unknown and open up the world of endless possibilities. It’s a continuous cycle of becoming and losing, and it’s never too late to stick to your journey and push the wheels along. Above all, we have to let go of things that hinder our mental peace to move forward forthrightly.
After all, we all aspire to be like the stars but to do so, we have to be courageous enough to face the darkness and to keep moving to journey uphill, rather than in the fleeting sense of happiness awaiting the next peak.
