We, as kiddies, were all raised to admire the courage of St. George and despise the creepy old dragon. We made George a saint... put him on a couple of national flags... he got the royal treatment. Now in the mature years of your life cycle, you may wish to revise the emotional commitment you have made to George. Today, this important issue became front of mind when looking at a couple of statues the good citizens of Zagreb have raised in memory of St. George.
The first statue creates the child image (see photo below). There is George sitting high in the saddle... well out of harm's way... wielding his giant sword... cool as a cucumber... not getting his hands dirty. The horse is putting in the hard yards... straining every muscle in its body... terrified of those giant claws and gnashing teeth. The dear old dragon has defeated eyes... it already knows its fate... poor thing. You can almost hear it saying, "I knew I should have practiced the fire breathing yesterday. Oh well, too late now". Who is the hero in this scene. Perhaps if George had not stacked the odds against the dragon, he may have been in the running. If he got off his horse... threw away his sword... and attacked the dragon from there... perhaps, then he could claim hero status.
In Zagreb there is a second statue to St. George... one I like better. (A photo of it is also shown below.) It shows George sitting on his horse after the battle with a rather regretful look on his face. He has taken his helmet off... not a hair out of place... no sweat or other signs of exhaustion. The horse looks done in... ready to collapse. The poor old dragon is bad news... just a blog of melting matter oozing into the rocks. The expression on the face of George seems to be saying, "Did I just kill the last dragon left on earth? Am I personally responsible for the extinction of an animal species?" With the benefit of hindsight, we could have said, "George, you cretin... you have just wiped out one of the world's most exciting animals... a lizard that could fly... a lizard that could breath fire... a lizard that was smart enough to put up a good fight with a knight, in a suit of armour, mounted on a horse and armed with a very long sword." We could say to him, "George, you cretin, you had better scoop up some DNA material... keep it on ice until stem cell science becomes sufficiently developed, so that others can reverse your stupid mistake."
Just as well it is only a fairytale... otherwise you could get worked up over such stupidity. However, to be on the safe side, you are encouraged to express your outrage to those nations (regions) of the world who glorify St George in their flags, including : England, Italy (Bologna, Padua, Genoa, and most notably Milan), Canada (Montreal), Georgia, Sardinia, as well as states within the Nordic countries. But, dear reader, do not become too complacent... our first task is to remove George from the flag of New South Wales! For the sake of the kiddies, we can't salute flags that honour a cad!
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