Spoiler Alert: Don’t read this post until after you’ve seen How To Train Your Dragon.
In How To Train Your Dragon, Hiccup is the son of a Viking leader who is at constant battle with a slew of dragons. Every adult in their village fights the sheep stealing beasts and every child dreams of taking up his sword against them someday.
This is how bravery has been defined for generations of Hiccup’s people. But he does two things that are even braver.
As he raises his knife to kill his first dragon and make dad proud, he dares to look into the eyes of his victim. Much later in the film he explains that he chose not to kill because he saw himself in his enemy: fear, duty, weakness, courage, life.
Hiccup’s first great act of bravery was identifying with and valuing his enemy enough to serve: He chose to meet his foe’s basic “human” needs.
If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. -Romans 12:20
Once Hiccup is able to think of his opponent as “human”, he’s able to not only empathize with and serve him but also to understand why his enemy behaves the way he does. He steps into the other guy’s claws long enough to discover the reason for his bad behavior.
There’s a good reason the dragons steal sheep. They’re propelled by fear and Hiccup decides to kill that fear instead of his nemesis.
So, Hiccup’s second brave choice was to understand his enemy and get to the root cause of the conflict with him.
Pacifism isn’t passive. And it’s not for cowards and weaklings.
True, with biceps the size of toothpicks, Hiccup would never have been a great warrior. But raising the value of a dragon’s life to the same level as his own took more strength than raising his father’s sword.
And also, my inner seven year-old would like to mention that the two-headed dragons burping fire were pretty stinkin’ awesome. And the kissing parts were icky.
Lindsay @ Not2Us says:
๐ I’ll have to check out this movie. Thanks for the challenge. (As always!)
deirdre says:
you are so cute. Did you see all the bits that they did to promote this movie during the Olympics?
I loved the one that was for bobsledding. …”first, you have to have a guy named bob….”
too funny. I like your take on the movie. what a great way to pull the lesson from a piece of hollywood fluff. cool fluff, but still……
Mel says:
This is why yours is a MUST read blog for me!!
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Greg says:
Haven’t seen the movie and had no idea it had such a great message in it. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, and yet that seems to be where a lot of our energy and resources are spent among US believers today. Thanks for sharing this wisdom and Word with us today!
Krissy says:
This has been on my mind a lot lately. I wonder how many Christians believe that we should love our enemies. My guess is that most of us believe it’s a nice-sounding idea, but not something we’re really expected to put into practice: it’s just not practical, right? And it could cost us everything. Because sometimes our enemies really do actively want to hurt us. Because our enemies are people we just don’t like. Because loving our enemies isn’t a passive thing at all: it means ACTIVELY doing good to them, actively blessing them, actively lending to them without expecting anything back (which, if you might notice, is actually GIVING them), actively praying for them.
I actually believe that Jesus was serious when he told us to love our enemies, and that he didn’t mean for it to be a nice-sounding idea, but, rather, something that we do, because that is what he did. Putting this into practice, however… I’m just in the beginning stages of trying to do that. Or thinking about trying to do that.
bob lenz says:
Great movie!!
great lessons!!!
heart strings with Dads approval.
Ok to be different!!
Sarah Valente (Kingdom Mama) says:
We won’t get to see the movie until Amazon video has it….so I didn’t wait to read the post!;)
But I have been thinking so much along these lines recently (not necessarily for my enemies as much as for people I could simply disregard)…and mostly because I have been inspired by Compassion. Thank you for your heart! Thank you for inspiring an already merciful person to greater depths of humanizing the world and truly reaching for understanding about God’s deep love for all of His (not just MY) children.
Keturah says:
Yes! Amen. Amen. Amen. and Amen.
jenL says:
If you keep writing posts like this, I’m gonna develop not only blog-envy…but a little bit of a crush.
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Can’t wait to take my rugrats…I’m totally stealing your lessons for them in the event they don’t pick up on them on their own. Thank you!
Amber says:
Loved the movie. I am very cheap but I gave in and did the 3D/IMAX version. Worth the extra money to feel like you are flying.
*My husband said it was cheaper and safer than hang gliding school.
**I’m still hoping to go to hang gliding school.