Looking beyond an image

Posted by Diana Tierney Aug 15, 2006

The story of Saint George and the dragon is very interesting to look at. On the surface it is simply a religious myth about a man that follows the values of a religion and saves a town in the process. However, as with most things, there is more to what meets the eye.

For starters let look at the Townspeople. How easily did they give up hope? They were beaten once and then just like that they rolled over and exposed their bellies giving the dragon all that he wanted. First they lost hope and then joy soon followed suit. St. George had an enormous amount of faith in what he did. He believed that he could kill the dragon and he did.

In my family there is always some sort of research that is going on for simply the fun of it. My father researched the American revolutionary war, the life of John F. Kennedy and most recently the life of Abraham Lincoln. Recently I was listening to conversation between him and my uncle regarding President Lincoln. They were talking about how dedicated the man was and how he truly believed in what he was doing. Lincoln was not a man where things came easy; he struggled and worked for all that he had earned. When he attempted things he failed over and over again until one day he actually one. Lincoln believed in what he was doing during the time of the civil war, he was committed to his ultimate goal. In this way he was a lot more like St. George than the townspeople.

Speaking of St. George there has been a recent movement to have him removed as the patron saint of England. I personally will be one of the first people to stand up and fight for religious rights. However, I don't think that having this saint as their patron saint is necessarily a bad thing. Saint George may be a Christian mythology and may in fact have an ultimate ending that promotes the spread of Christianity over other religions however the ultimate moral is that he is represents determination, faith and endurance to see the job through. These are qualities that in these times people can really look up to. So in this case then it should be looked over what religion this saint comes from and focus on what he ultimately brings to the world through his story.