Disney has to be one of the most relatable movie companies I have ever had the pleasure of watching. It is most certainly romanticized, but who would want to watch a movie of how life truly is? We need to see a bit of fantasy in our favorite stories in order to console ourselves during life’s most difficult times. I remember in my late middle school and early high school years I would watch movies meant for younger kids to escape my own reality. Their happy endings comforted me in a way others could not.

I often pick apart many of the Disney movies, especially my favorite, The Little Mermaid. While I do have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with mermaids, that is not the main reason I am so attracted to the tale of Ariel. When I see her, I do not see a girl running after a guy, but a young woman searching for the world she can belong to. She is out of place among the other mermaids and yearns to be a part of the surface world. Personally, I would love to join the merworld, but to each their own. Her love of humans started long before she encountered Prince Eric. While Eric was the tipping point that leads her to run towards her dream, it was not the only reason she left her life behind as many people think. She had found a place she belonged, somewhere she felt at home. Could we really fault her for that?

Up until recently, I was in the same place she was. Always a part of the whole, but never fully at peace with my world, I was lost. I searched to find myself in a world that I would never love. It was only by chance that I found my home at Marist, and I fought like hell to make sure I got there. Heck, I would have given up my voice if it guaranteed my place at Marist! Just thinking of Marist’s wonderful view makes me homesick but I would not give up this feeling for anything in the world. It’s awful to feel this way, but it means that I have finally found where I belong. I am sure Ariel often missed her family and the feel of the water but finding where she was meant to be can erase all the negativity. We each found our home and would not trade that for anything.