I'm in a rather unique English writing class, in which our writing prompts have been a bit out of the ordinary. Over the last two weeks, we've been writing "love letters," not to people we know and/or admire, but to things. Some of us wrote essays declaring our love for peanut butter, steak, our bikes, and other things we like. I wrote my "love letter" to the genre of Fantasy, explaining how much I enjoy its freedom and how much I appreciate how fantasy inspires me to be more like a paladin.
This week, we're going to be writing papers expressing one of our beliefs. Right now, I'm feeling a bit tempted to write about my belief that paladins make good role-models, highlighting the Christlike attributes that paladins possess and their undying commitment to the cause of good. I might not end up writing about that, though, because I already mentioned paladins in my previous writing assignment. I don't want the others to think that paladins are the only thing I think about. Then again, I do think about paladins fairly often, and I certainly should think about them more.
Without really deciding whether I'm ultimately going to write about paladins again or not, I think I'll write about them this morning, either to get it out of my system or to organize my thoughts for the paper I'm about to write.
The first reason I consider paladins to be good role-models is that they are undeniably good. They do the right thing for the right reason, even if it's dangerous. They uphold high standards of conduct, and they try to encourage others to choose the right as well. Paladins are good role-models because they are good, and they often try to act as role-models to others.
Another thing that makes paladins worth emulating is that they're honorable. Their high standards include a commitment to honesty and integrity. They're very honest. They respect authority figures, just as we our counselled to honor our parents, respect church leadership, and obey the laws of the land.
Finally, paladins are inspiring for their vigor in the fight against evil. They battle evil whenever it appears, not letting it linger to tempt or harm them or others. This is the manner in which paladins have been most helpful to me. While the phrase "What would a paladin do?" has helped me to be more good and honorable, thinking of my battles against temptation as literal battles and gaining strength from the idea of fighting evil like a paladin has helped me to win more of those battles than I might have won with some other tactic.
The sad part is that I already wrote about how following the examples of paladins has helped me win spiritual battles, so I don't want to write about it again. Not so soon afterwards. Instead, I'll probably write about why I believe commas are important in the English language, since the other part of this week's lesson is a grammar lesson on the usage of commas, and I'm the lead student for this week. Being able to talk about commas at the same time I read my paper on something that I believe in would kill two birds with one stone and help add some coherence to the lesson I'm supposed to lead.
Still, just for the record, I think that paladins make great role-models, which is why I've chosen to follow their example. Paladins inspire me. They help me be a better person than I might otherwise have been. Despite their being mostly fictional and a bit too aggressive and judgemental at times, I think that most aspects of paladins are aspects worth having, and that it's a good idea for me to keep following their example. Eventually, I hope to one day be an example for others to follow, and to inspire others the same way paladins currently inspire me. In short, I hope to one day be a paladin, at least in many ways. Paladins are my role-models, and that seems to be working out pretty well for me.
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