When I was a little kid, my first video game experience was guiding an 8-bit representation of Mario across the screen in the hopes of rescuing Princess Toadstool from King Koopa, a strange turtle/dragon hybrid with a thing for kidnapping damsels and putting them in distress.
Despite having no plot other than slaying the dragon and rescuing the girl, I was hooked, spending many an afternoon trying to achieve that goal.
While video games have evolved since then, the basic premise of many of them still remains the same: find the big bad and get rid of him.
Slaying the dragon is as popular a motivation for people today as it was in the times of fairy tales and epic myths. People, it seems, are hard wired to find their own dragon to slay. There are no real fire-breathing lizards roaming today's skies waiting for knights to slay them. As a result, some people begin to create their own dragons.
Unfortunately, these dragons may not be actual problems, but may instead consist of superficial differences and disagreements with others.
How many times have we witnessed TV and radio hosts, or even politicians, stir up their base against a particular group of people instead of at an actual problem'
How about instead of making monsters out of people who aren't like us, we combat the real monsters in our world' Our energy would be better spent focused on real issues, rather than against a particular ideology, religion, political affiliation, gender or race.
According to the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, 48 percent of all children live in poverty. Thousands of veterans live without a roof over their head. There are people just outside the Fort McPherson gate who live under the bridge leading to East Point, simply trying to survive.
Maybe we could spend our energy on helping to fight these monsters by donating to homeless shelters or taking time to volunteer at a soup kitchen. What about fighting the monster of suicide in our ranks'
The Army is experiencing record suicides, with billions of dollars going toward combating the issue.
Maybe we could all take more time to care for our battle buddies, getting them the help they need or being someone sympathetic for them to talk to'
For all the dog lovers out there, how about helping to spread the message of spaying or neutering one's pets to reduce the estimated 3.7 million animals that the American Humane Society says were euthanized in 2008'
Locally, what about all the kids who might be coming from broken homes who need strong mentors and role models, both of which can be provided through Fort McPherson programs such as YouthForce and tutoring programs'
I know there are some who might trivialize these things, saying they aren't "real dragons" and don't deserve our time and effort.
For some, it's so much easier to attack pretend dragons, the ones that can't do us any actual harm, than attack the ones that require a real sacrifice. Pretend dragons are so much easier to kill, just like Koopa, because they require no real sacrifice.
I still enjoy a game now and then, but responsibilities and the real world have put the world of pretend on hold. I encourage everyone to likewise stop fighting the pretend dragons and face the real ones in our world.
While helping a child in need, saving a life of an animal or feeding a hungry belly might not be as appealing as combating the dragons of superficial fear and petty ignorance, it will do more good in the long run, especially for the person you're helping out.
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