If you haven’t seen The Water Horse yet, it’s a movie I strongly recommend. Personally, I watched it about 30 times, but who is really counting. 🙂 The story is about Angus (the main character), who finds an egg that has this beautiful creature in it. He would do anything to protect his best friend (Crusoe).
Lessons Learned from Angus and Crusoe
1. Helping the small and helpless
The story starts when Angus finds a rock that grabs his attention. He takes this rock home because he thinks it is cool. Little does he know, the rock is actually an egg that ends up hatching a day later. Angus finds this little creature inside and decides to keep him. He named him Crusoe.
In our communities, we can help those around us. While walking to class or anywhere on campus, look around and see if anyone needs help. Maybe you could be the one to give them a hand or share a smile. Stepping up and reaching out is the exact same thing as Angus collecting this rock. You never know when a new friendship will arise!
2. Rising above
Toward the end of the movie, Angus realizes that Crusoe is getting way too big. He needed to take care of him by letting him go. Angus rose above by taking Crusoe to the lake, where he could be safe from people that may want to hurt him because he is different.
Throughout your 4, 5, or 6+ years in a university, you have plenty of opportunities to rise above. Be that amazing individual and step up for those who need it. You can rise above and be the voice for a friend who is too frightened to say something, even if it’s hard for you. You can be the person that people look up to who helps them when help is needed.
3. Self – sacrifice
Angus would do anything for Crusoe. Angus loves Crusoe so much that he jumps into the water (which is his biggest fear) to save his best friend. He needed him to swim away, but Crusoe did not want to leave Angus. But by staying where he was, the Scottish troops would have harmed him.
Sometimes as student leaders, we tend to get wrapped up in our schedules and planners and don’t realize that we need to sacrifice some time to be there for ourselves and others. We need to step up like Angus did and rise above our fears, jump into the water and find what it is that others (and ourselves) need. Sacrifice some time to just sit back and think, “how can I help in this situation”.
4. Â Trusting others
Angus find trust in his sister and the new handyman. He told them about Crusoe and trusted that they wouldn’t tell the Scottish troops. Angus didn’t want them to take Crusoe away, but realized that he could not take care of his new best friend on his own. He needed help.
Trust is hard sometimes. As student leaders, it is difficult to trust others with tasks and information. Sometimes we need to take a step back and see who is around that we can put our trust into. We must realize that we can’t do everything and need to delegate and trust that others can help us too.
5. Healing can come from caring and assisting others
Without even knowing it, Crusoe heals Angus’s loneliness and slight depression. They become best friends and care for each other like family.
You are a healer. As a student leader, you may not know this, but you heal others just by helping out. You may have smiled at someone today and didn’t realize that you made their whole day. You could have said thank you to someone and made them smile because the 30+ people ahead of you just ignored them and continued with their day. A simple smile and thank you can heal (or patch up) someone’s bad day.
Overall, it is amazing how things happen.
It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are. Friendships and relationships come in all different shapes and sizes. What matters is the bond that you create that no other person or thing could change. That’s what friendship is, and that’s what you should care about!
Until next time, have a great day!
