Merlin: Random Acts of Kindness

Hello, friends. In the past few days, I have become obsessed with the BBC show Merlin. The rest of my family watches it a little, but not as much as I do. During episode 7 (The Gates of Avalon), *sort of a spoiler alert but not really* Merlin has to save Arthur *quasi-spoiler over now*. My mom asked me, "Is it always like that?"

"Basically, yeah," I replied. The general format of any given Merlin episode (at least the ones I've seen so far) is this: Arthur Pendragon (the prince of Camelot) gets in mortal danger, and Merlin (Arthur's servant) has to save him. However, Merlin has to use magic to do so, and magic is an offense punishable by death (because King Uther is a jerk), so Merlin can't tell anyone. Oh, and Merlin's typically helped by the physician, Gaius. 

So, for those of you who read the title of this post carefully, you're probably wondering when I'm going to talk about random acts of kindness. And that time is right now. See, when you think about it, Merlin is an incredibly selfless person, and in every episode, he performs what might be called a random act of kindness. Random acts of kindness are things people do to help other people, and these acts are often done without any reward or recognition. Merlin will put his life on the line over and over again to protect Arthur, all the while never getting the credit. Now, I'm not saying you need to be that extreme, but a small act of kindness can go a long way. Helping others provides us with a sense of fulfillment, making us realize that we, like Merlin, have a destiny, whether we know it or not. 

Merlin is also a show about breaking the rules in order to do what is right. Every time Merlin uses magic, he is breaking one of the most important laws of Camelot. And yet, he's doing it for the good of others. Harry Potter, too, is an example of breaking the rules to do good things. Sometimes, we have to be willing to do what might seem wrong, because we know it's actually right. Any small act of kindness you do makes you a better person. And who knows? It just might save a life.