GodChicks

• Holly Wagner
• Aug 11, 2011
• Category: General
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One of my favorite Disney movies is Mulan. And it is actually based on the life a real Chinese young woman named Hua Mulan. As a young woman, Mulan loved being outside…riding horses and shooting arrows. She was not really interested in what makeup to wear or how to pour tea. Sounds like just a bit of a tomboy! At one point, her aging and wounded father received orders to rejoin the army and fight off invaders. 

Mulan’s heart was breaking as he accepted the orders and limped into the house to prepare to leave and join the war. Later that night she quietly snuck into her father’s closet and took his armor. She thought that he was too old for this battle, and so to protect him, she would fight on his behalf.

She uses his sword to cut her beautiful long black hair. She wraps a long cloth round and round her chest, concealing her breasts. She puts on her father’s armor, picks up his sword, mounts her horse and stealthily leaves her home in the middle of the night.

Knowing that her deception could cost her life, she directs her horse to the camp of soldiers all training for war. When she arrives, they do not see a woman. They see a young boy. She maintains the disguise as she prepares for battle.

She actually becomes a fierce warrior and is part of some great victories, and receives recognition for her leadership.

Toward the end of the movie, the emperor is threatened, and her battalion are the only ones left to rescue him. In one battle her disguise inadvertently comes off, and her fellow soldiers see her as the woman she is.  At first she is rejected…but then, as herself, she plays a significant role in rescuing the emperor…and is honored for doing so.

And she did it as herself.

We will really only win battles as our self.

I am not sure why we would think that someone else’s armor would be better.

Someone else always looks more qualified.

If I could just look like them, then I would be beautiful.

If I just had what they had, then I would be successful.

We question whether or not we can really win this battle simply with what we have … ourselves.

Why is it that we feel the need to be someone else? Why don’t we see ourselves as good enough?