Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

Rafiki – The Lion King

“The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.” – Rafiki, The Lion King 

Disney movies and characters should not be so deep.

But sometimes they are.

My daddy says the people in Silicon Valley are pretty apt, even sometimes all to eager to talk about their past. Especially their past failures.

The reasons they do this is not always clear.

Here are 3 reasons why people like to share their failures.

1. to show that they are vulnerable.

2. to talk about their past mistakes so that they can share what it is they have learned.

3. to ‘use’ their past as a stepping stone to the stage and attention.

Rafiki in the Lion King is talking about number 2.

Our past = our experiences are great teachers. But the past is only a great teacher if we learn from it.

More often than not it is the painful experiences of our past that are the best teachers. This is a mystery.

Why do things that hurt us teach us more clearly than the the things that bring us pleasure?

Wow … that was fun, I think I’ll do that more often is not nearly as powerful as Ouch! That really hurt. I will never do that again.

I wonder why that is.

I think I will ask someone who has learned the answer to that question from their past.

Daddy?

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.