A Turning Point

See this dude:

You may recognize him, even though you don't realize it. Does this look familiar? I'm not sure why he's dressed as a Roman in this picture. Or, why the horse even looks scared. You are with St George, lil buddy, it'll all be okay!

It's part of the English Seal. How are they connected, you might ask?

Well, that bad ass on the top? It's his shield. He's St. George. That's his dragon. Well, not his dragon; but the dragon he's famous for slaying and saving a town that it was ravaging by eating everyone in it. It's a great story. He's my favorite knight.

To the lady that was being sacrificed the particular day that he rode up to save the town, he says:

"And have no dred, thou swete thynge, for I sall note lefe thee" (no typos there---you too can read Middle English!!)

But in case you can't, he  calls her sweet thing and tells her that he won't leave her. At which point, he subdues the dragon and has her tie her belt around it's neck and lead it into the town like a dog, and tells them that they'd better convert to Christianity so he can dispatch of this foul thing once and for all. Nothing like making someone believe in God under threat of devourement, no?

Alas, this diversion of tale was all to tell you that I can't find any good scholarly information about my favorite guy. I want to include him in my thesis and in my seminar paper, because I mean, who wouldn't? He's also got a great martyrdom story where he gets boiled, scratched and all kinds of great and terrible stuff. But no one seems to write about the guy.

This brings me to a realization. I've reached a turning point in my education. I am writing about things that no one has written about, and not because it isn't valid but because I've thought of something in a new way. It is scary. I don't trust my thoughts to be as smart as the thoughts of the forty page articles I'm reading with long and complicated words. I don't trust myself to be able to synthesize and apply what someone said about St Margaret (who also fought a dragon by being eaten and then bursting out of its belly--and you thought what I was studying was boring!) to St George. It's too confusing. While I think that the violence in St George is a perfect compliment to my thesis, I'm afraid to go out on a ledge and use it because no one else has talked about it. Still, no one else has talked directly about my topic. It's all so overwhelming. St George, wouldn't be freaked, would he? Maybe I should just go watch Yo Gabba Gabba.