HERCULES: WHO AM I?

It is not uncommon to find many adults who think that animation movies are childish. I particularly have many people around me who show no interest in animations; they see it as yesterday’s fun, something that they have outgrown today. I am an adult who enjoys the beauty of the art of animations and haven’t outgrown animations. There is really nothing childish about enjoying a unique and spectacular way of telling stories, the captivating scenery of creatures who are made to look like real humans and animals but do not have the limitations that we have. They could walk on water, fly without wings and do all manner of things that sometimes remind us of how limitless we truly are if we think outside the box and realize how powerful we are. I will not outgrow Disney movies like Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Tarzan and many others. I love Shrek, Frozen, Inside Out and Chicken Run but my favorite still remains Hercules. Hercules helped me discover the greatest thing about success; the discovery of one’s identity.

Hercules, a young lad with a kind of extraordinary strength which bordered along being supernormal, was a god who grew up amongst people who didn’t recognize him as a god. It was bad enough that he was overlooked and underestimated, the greater tragedy however, is the fact that he also didn’t know who he was, a god amongst humans. His strength, which should have been seen as a blessing, was seen as a curse. He was that young lad nobody wanted to play with, the one that was considered to be destructive, a freak. Hercules was not happy because he couldn’t just fit into any activities he was supposed to fit in his environment. 

His parents had to reveal to him that they were only his guardians and not his real parents. This was done out of the distress and pain that he had destroyed a temple in the bid to catch a ball. Hercules in search of his real identity took a bold step by traveling a great distance to Zeus, a Greek god, to ask for his identity. In Hercules prayers to Zeus, he asked Zeus some questions that caught my attention, “Who am I? Where do I belong?” Hercules got it right because without figuring out his true uniqueness he will never realize where he belonged to. Right away, Zeus revealed to him that he was more than what he thought he was; he was a god living among humans. He was the lost son of Zeus. He was a notable god who had been labelled a freak all his life. The great hero was living quietly inside of him unnoticed and unannounced. The revelation of his true identity made him realize he belonged to the gods.  

Zeus directed Hercules to a hero trainer, Philoctetes, because he needed to be a hero before he would regain his godhood. While training to regain his godhood, he realized how powerful he was, discovered his hidden potentials and started to do things he couldn’t have done before the discovery of his true identity. He became famous for saving lives and for fighting the enemies of his citizens, and he was no longer called a freak but a hero. He was no longer termed destructive, but a life saver. He wouldn’t have realized that he was more than just human, if he hadn’t taken the bold step of faith to ask about out his identity. He would have lived as a freak despite such huge potential if he hadn’t sought for his identity. The movie, Hercules made me realize that the greatest discovery in the pursuit of one’s destiny is identity, the understanding of one’s unique strength, passion, talents and potential. 

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