Are You a Dragon Trainer?

Snuggled up under a blanket, armed with lime and salt popcorn and a plate of hot from the oven brownies, Kim Hillebrand and I settled in to watch How to Tame Your Dragon last night, which I have been wanting to see ever since it released in movie theaters during my stint in Haiti.

It did not disappoint and, honestly, I almost put it in again today to watch one more time and I am certain it will become a part of my all-favorite animated movies list right under Beauty and the Beast and Up. So if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend (Mom… wait until I am home!)

One bit of dialogue that has been rolling around in my brain for the past 24 hours is this:

Hiccup: If only I had’ve killed that dragon when I found him in the woods! It would’ve been better… for everyone
Astrid: You’re right. Everyone else would’ve done it. So why didn’t you?
[pauses]
Astrid: Why *didn’t* you?
Hiccup: I don’t know… I couldn’t. Look why does it matter?
Astrid: Because I want to remember what you say, RIGHT NOW
Hiccup: Oh for the love of – I was a coward. I was weak! I wouldn’t kill a dragon
Astrid: You said wouldn’t that time
Hiccup: Well whatever! I wouldn’t! The first viking in 300 years who wouldn’t kill a dragon.
Astrid: [pause] First to ride one though. So…
Hiccup: [sighs] I wouldn’t kill him, because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him, and I saw myself.

Poor Hiccup, even his name suggests that he’s a misfit and rightly so. What I love though is that he doesn’t do what everyone else would have done. He can’t and won’t. And because of that he comes to discover what 300 years of vikings missed out on, to see the dragons from a different perspective and to change the lives of countless vikings and dragons thereafter.

Do you have the gift of a dangerous dragon in your life? Can you look past your fear and see it from a new perspective, one that might not just change your life but the lives of others as well?