Disney Dysfunction...

This rogue teen lost his parents and then became involved heavily in gangs.

I am speaking today at a high school convocation in front of 2,000 high school students, which is unnerving because high school students are probably the most difficult audience a speaker can present to, and it's in the school's gym, which means bleachers on three sides, which is like speaking to 360 degrees of people.

But for my talk I'm going to be discussing the "wounds of a parent" that many of the kids probably feel. To make the subject a bit funny, I came across this list of Disney characters whose relationships with their parents was anything less than perfect.

• Aladdin – orphaned and homeless; forced to commit petty crimes for food and shelter
  
• Ariel – dead mother, rebellious teen who runs away to be with a man
  
• Bambi – raised by single mother who is murdered, has never met his absent father
  
• Belle – dead mother, raised by single father
  
• Cinderella – dead mother, raised by abusive Stepmother and neglectful, absent father
  
• Dumbo – raised by a stigmatized, depressed single mother
  
• Lilo – orphaned, raised by older sister
  
• Nemo – dead mother, raised by single overprotective father
  
• Pinocchio – wooden toy adopted by aged creator Gepetto
  
• Pochahontas – dead mother, raised by single father
  
• Simba – father murdered by uncle, raised by 2-male heads of household (meerkat and warthog)
  
• Sleeping Beauty – parents transferred custody to 3 fairies
  
• Snow White – dead mother, raised by abusive Stepmother and neglectful father
  
• Tarzan – orphaned, resulting in a transracial and transspecies adoption by gorilla family