Beowulf, an old English poem set hundreds of years before it was written, during the times the Vikings were beginning the conversion to Christianity. This story highlights the good and the noble, giving people a sense of what glory should be, a way to go through life. It uses old historical tales and fictional Christian and pagan-based monsters.
The first monster Beowulf faces in the story is Grendel, a demon descended from Cain from the story of Cain & Abel. This demon was terrorizing a neighboring Viking village across the waters from Beowulf’s home. Beowulf traveled this distance to help the neighboring kingdom out of generosity and hope for a future alliance. What makes this part of the story so significant? After all, this is a classic.
Beowulf is curious, learning about monsters and their varying sizes, attempting to help others by defeating their monster so he can make friends and learn something about these strange demons people face. Does this sound familiar? It should. People do not face real demons, as in Supernatural, but we all have monsters, we first learn about them at a young age. We attempt to help others out of friendship, and most importantly, curiosity. People are curious to aid their own future experiences. As we see later in the story of Beowulf, the main character and his men will face much bigger, more personally threatening monsters.
However, at the beginning of the story, before being compared to later journeys, Grendel is a very big deal. No monster has been faced by Beowulf yet. He doesn’t know how to handle this demon. But he is a smart, capable person. In the end, he kills Grendel, despite not being aware that this demon cannot be killed by a sword.
No matter how much experience you have, no matter how much information about this particular task you have, if you go against your instinct to freeze at the scary monster that is paperwork, a job interview, parenthood, or even schoolwork, you will prevent it from getting bigger later. You can take it on with bare hands and be like Beowulf. Learning from this experience will make bigger demons seem smaller than the last one.
Why should you face monsters at all? Do you actually have any if you try to avoid them? Yes, you have monsters, so what is the point of facing them? Life is a set of values that you create, and the world manifests itself around that. Your tasks at hand exist according to a goal, nested inside another goal, all born out of your values. But you are focused on the task at hand and that can be a monster. If you don’t reach now, you will never get to your higher goal. Goals are important. Without goals, there is no point to life. Being successful at a goal is what makes the inevitable pains of life worth it. If you never face any monsters, your life won’t be worth it. Don’t let your life turn out that cynical.
Demons can also be problematic people. People in your life who are problematic should still be treated fairly. The best way to go about other people in your life is to always attempt to be the bigger person when you are unhappy with a situation. This is what Beowulf did. The demon was a cynical narcissistic creature, honed in on his own needs. He went to go kill the people because he was angry they were happy. He could hear them celebrating the arrival of Beowulf. When you have people in your life like this, catch them off guard by being nice, being strategic. You can use your resources and language to take their resources in a way. Beowulf did not go after the head of the beast with a sword, which was expected. Beowulf used his bare hands to take Grendel’s arm. Grendel left to bleed out in a corner, mad that he was bested.
Beowulf is a good example of “the better person”. No matter how many times he has to go through an experience he’s never faced before, he makes the best of the situation. Be like Beowulf, with optimistic hope for the best for the situation at hand, but do not rely on fate alone. Be strategic and friendly. Life will help you out along the way.
Kommentare