George and the Dragon

April 23rd is St.Georges Day.

The legend of St.George and the Dragon is famous - instilled in most British people from childhood.

St.George is the patron saint of England, but in reality, it is thought that he never visited our sceptred isle.

Actually, he is said to have hailed from Cappadocia in central Turkey and lived around 300AD.

It is quite likely that he was an early Christian, living in a land ruled by pagan Romans.

Ironically, he became a Roman soldier in Palestine and on complaining about the treatment of Christians by Roman soldiers, was put to death for his trouble.

The story of dragon slaying, the red St.George cross and the involvement with the Arthurian Knights of the Round Table are believed to be embellishments to history.

Could it be that the dragon is representational and moralistic ?

Don't we all face dragons in our everyday lives ?

Each and every day, we are forced to combat good and evil, making instant choices.   

These quick decisions might not seem a big deal, individually.

For example, do we stop on our way to work to help the old lady who's dropped her shopping all over the pavement or do we hurry on, because we are late and can't spare the time.

Do we moan and bitch about a mutual acquaintance or do we bite our lip and keep our negative thoughts to ourself.

Each incident is a dragon, each incident is a battle to be fought.

Each, is a struggle between the good of St.George and the evil of the dragon.

I'm quite sure that real evil exists in the world, but how much of what is perceived by us to be a daily dose of evil or badness, is really a tussle with selfishness, impatience, laziness, greed and so on ? 

In 3rd century Anatolia, the wife of the Roman Emperor Dioclesian was suitably impressed by Georges' refusal to denounce his religious beliefs.

Dioclesian was an avid persecutor of Christians and he put his wife to death when she spoke up for George.

Fighting the dragon isn't always the easiest thing to do, but you have to look yourself in the eye, in the mirror every day. 

Sometimes in life, it's difficult to see what counts.