"Beowulf" is the story of a hero who travels the seas to take out several monsters and save a kingdom. It is pretty much the basic premise of every science fiction action movie around. However, I would like to pose a few questions: what if Beowulf wouldn't have travelled and stood up to the monsters? What if he would have let the people continue to waste away at the hands of a beast they could not control or stop? It has already been pointed out that we as humans are similar to Grendel (which I am not disagreeing with), but we also have the potential to be like Beowulf. We are all faced with situations throughout life where we are forced to take a stand, but what about when we are faced with situations where we could very well sit back and let someone else handle it? More often than we care to admit, we sit back and make excuses as to why we can't help--no time, no money, no ability, etc--and these situations aren't even life or death.
We as Christians are called to love well and to love fully, and are we really loving well and fully if we refuse to help those--Christian or not--around us? Knowing the situation and the possible outcomes, Beowulf still chose to travel and fight for the sake of the people and for the glory (for us, it would be to bring God glory). If he would have refused to go, more likely than not, someone else would have stepped in and taken out the monsters. But he didn't. He didn't make excuses. What if we didn't hesitate to help those around us even if the odds look scary or we might be inconvenienced?
Okay, I'm getting off of my stereotypical soap box now.
I commented on Wendy and Ethan's.
I really like the point you made about the "bystander effect." We often see things happening and think, 'I don't have to act, someone else surely will.' Which could be true, but with a high probability most of the people around seeing the same terrible thing happening, they will have the same thought you did. It is up to us to act when we see something going on that is wrong or that needs to be helped, and not just stand around, hoping someone else will do it for us.
ReplyDeleteI think if we really didn't hesitate to help others, the world would be a different place. If our hearts are aligned with God, we won't hesitate when the time is right for us to take act though. I would propose that sometimes it isn't our place to step in, because God has other plans to use someone else. Food for thought.
ReplyDeleteThis was something I considered as I read as well! It was cool to see how Beowulf acted even when he did not really have to. He saw his fellow man in need and did something about it. There are few that are brave enough to behave this way when met with the deep need they see around them. This really shows how honorable Beowulf truly is.
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