Finding Your Leadership Calling

On Sunday, October 25 I watched Disney’s Moana for the second time on disney plus. On Monday October 26, at 10 am I listened to the key passages and wrote down notes that I found important. The pictures below are my notes, and total up to about a 5 minute read.

Before, I did the plotting the leadership development assignment for this week, which I may say is completely different this week, there were a few questions or you could say themes, that recurred in the movie, that stuck with me and that I wanted to write responses on.

One of the main themes of the movie is the idea of who you are vs where you are. Moana’s father, the chief, feels as though because she is the chief’s daughter and she lives on the island, her duties and responsibilities are to tend to the island and to its people. However she disagrees, she longs for adventure and journey, so they contradict each other. This is how the question of what are the duties and responsibilities that your location impose on you came up, and how does that relate to your own interest ? It is so crazy because I recently went through a similar situation where my interest and my duties did not align. I am a freshman in college and a criminology major studying to be a defense attorney but I am also a dancer. My duty as a student and as a daughter is to stay focused in school and graduate and although I want that for myself as well I also have an interest and passion for dance. It is hard when your passion and your responsibilities do not align because you are hit with a hard decision.

Some actually decide to put their interest before their responsibilities while others decide to stick it out and tend to their duties. I personally feel like sucking it up and doing what you need to do is the adult thing to do and that is what I do . But I also decided to compromise with myself. Now I am a student, but also a dancer, I attend my aunt’s dance school called Destined To Dance Performing Arts Center. After school, I go to practice which I go four times a week, because I also decided to take on another responsibility, working. Although this is a lot and is straining on me, this was the way for me to compromise.

Another theme that appeared in Moana was the theme of tradition in leadership. Moana’s tradition is for her and others to tend to the needs of the island, as it is self sufficient. But how do you preserve traditions as well as move away from them ? Honestly that was a hard question for me to answer but I also think the answer has to do with compromising as well. It also has to do with prioritizing. For example, when I used to get my hair done in beauty salons, at 12 when it was time for muslims to pray they would stop their duty, which was to braid my hair and pray to their god. It is their tradition and you have to respect them.

Next I was asked to fill in the lyrics for the song “ How Far I’ll Go “ and theses are the complete lyrics.

I’ve been staring at the edge of the water
‘Long as I can remember, never really knowing why
I wish I could be the perfect daughter
But I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try
Every turn I take, every trail I track
Every path I make, every road leads back
To the place I know, where I can not go, where I long to be

See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me
And no one knows, how far it goes
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me
One day I’ll know, if I go there’s just no telling how far I’ll go

I know everybody on this island, seems so happy on this island
Everything is by design
I know everybody on this island has a role on this island
So maybe I can roll with mine
I can lead with pride, I can make us strong
I’ll be satisfied if I play along
But the voice inside sings a different song
What is wrong with me?

See the light as it shines on the sea? It’s blinding
But no one knows, how deep it goes
And it seems like it’s calling out to me, so come find me
And let me know, what’s beyond that line, will I cross that line?

The line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me
And no one knows, how far it goes
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me
One day I’ll know, how far I’ll go

I then was asked to rewrite the lyrics to “ I am Moana” to fit how I see myself, so I decided to talk about being a lawyer a well as a dancer. Even though not all of my lyrics rhyme, this song defines me.

I am a girl who loves to dance

I’m the women who loves to defend others

It calls me

I am the daughter of a police officer

We are descended from family

Who found their way across the world

They call me

I’ve delivered us to a higher caller

I have journeyed farther

I am everything I’ve learned and more

Still it calls me

And the call isn’t out there at all, it’s inside me

It’s like the tide, always falling and rising

I will carry you here in my heart you’ll remind me

That come what may

I know the answer

I am Rawlonda !

In Tuesday’s class Aneyah brought up how she announced herself changes, at the end she just says I am Moana. Arianna brought up the scene where Mavi agrees to work with Moana because Mavi begans to show leadership to Moana. Kam said that when Moana gave up towards the end is an essential part because she has to go through ups and downs. Lettirose said at the end when Moana was walking it was a key scene. It can be compared to Bitni because they both see how to create harmony. Both let their guard down to bring this harmony. Then, Terry made a comparison to black death on the island that correlates Ida B Wells literal black death with lynching.

Even though I included pictures of notes I took, I want to talk about characters I compared Moana too. Compared to Telemachus, menus, mental activation was put inside of Moana. Compared to Athena who uses story telling to activate Telemachus sense of shame, Gramma Tala uses storytelling to activate Moana’s menos. Also Moana’s leadership behaviors are displayed from a young age, similarily to Binti(16), Telemachus(20) and Cyrus The Great. The moment of realization is also present in other books we’ve read. Bitni has a moment of realization when she finally decides to speak up to the Meduse( that is why I found the Edan and got accepted into the University, to play the role of this master harmonizer). Ned Weeks goes through something similar when he starts bringing attention to his cause, he sees himself as a gay in a tradition. In addition, Moana’s relationship with Te Ka can be compared with Bitni’s relationship with the Meduse. Both the Meduse and Te Ka had something stoling from them and wanted revenge. But, Moana sees potential beyond Te Ka’s rage and gives back her heart similar to Bitni giving back the Meduse’s stinger.