Learn to Live
——my thoughts after reading Joan of Arc
Sunshine shines over the statue in Orleans. The ordinary but famous girl named Joan is riding on her horse, smiling and looking down at the land that she has loved and fought on. She is the heroine of France, the saint from heaven. Her influences shine over every person’s heart, and I am deeply impressed by her story.
When Louis XIII was the king, the British and the Burundians invaded France and wanted to have the northern part of France. Joan helped French people coronate their new king, Louis XIV, getting almost all the invaded land back with the help of three saints. But after that, she was caught by the Burundians and was burnt on a cross by her enemy. This is the famous story about Joan, the saint. From a village girl to a national heroine, she only used a few years. How could Joan of Arc do that? I wonder.
Someone says the saints have chosen her and the God has given her power. But actually the real virgin doesn’t exist, From the birth of Jesus Christ in the first century, people have controlled the Christianity. I think the religion has become a tool between people. This kind of opinion about the success of Joan must be wrong.
Someone said, Joan had this wonderful success because of her confidence and will. I quite agree with this opinion. Because there aren’t any virgins in the world, so I think the appearance of the saints was only in Joan’s mind, actually nothing special happened to Joan. I think the things which really mattered were Joan’s thoughts. In my opinion, Joan must have some military ability to lead the whole army, because of her unusual image, Joan became more confident to the success. It let Joan had the will to be successful. So the success before did not happen by accident,. After some battles, Joan said that she had lost her support from the saints, but actually this didn’t mind. The more important thing was that she had lost her confidence and will, so she lost the battle at last.
So I think confidence and will are just like the foundation of success. All the success depends on them.
In the real world, confidence and will is always very important. During the XX Athens Olympic Games, Li Ting and Sun Tiantian have won the gold medal for the women’s double in the tennis game. It was the first time our anthem playing on the tennis court. Some medium says that they have won by chance. It was only a fairy tale. But I don’t think so. Actually they have won because of their believing in themselves, because they have confidence and will, so they have created a fairy tale in Greece. Their confidence and will have made the success, not by accident.
In our daily life, we must have confidence and will as well. Before the test we need to be confident to our actual strength or we’ll not give full play to our initiative. We need to be confident when we are speaking in public or others will not remember you among all the speakers. We need to have will in studying or we’ll not learn things solidly. We need to have will in our daily life or we’ll give up the things we are doing now. If we have confidence and will in our daily life, then I believe you’ll live brighter.
起初，我对外国影片并不感兴趣，但通过阅读书籍，了解历史，知道了贞德这一人物形象。于是，我开始接触相关影片。之所以会去看《圣女贞德》这部电影的原因也在于此。
出乎意料，这部外国影片很吸引了我。片中讲述了英法百年战争时，圣女贞德带领法国军队对抗英军的入侵，支持查理七世加冕，为法国胜利作出了巨大贡献，可是后来她被勃垦第公国所俘，宗教以异端和女巫的罪名裁决她，最终将她处以火刑。
在贞德幼年时，许多人因为战争而流离失所，没有面包，没有水，最终死在街道上。当时，贞德很同情苦难的人民，她几次试图拿面包来发放给受难的群众，但都被她的父亲制止了。父亲为此常严厉呵斥她，他总是大吼：“不要同情任何人！总有一天，你的同情会建立在你的生命之上！”
当她最心爱的弟弟被英国士兵杀掉后，她受不了打击而独自跑到废弃的教堂哭诉和祈祷，却意外地遇到了圣凯瑟琳（天使）。贞德听到“神的声音”，得到“神的启示”。她决心拯救法国。
历经困难，她见到了查理七世，并接受指令奔赴战场。战争的可怕是无法估量的，到处都是伤残、嘶喊、死亡和恐惧，但她领导军队取得了一系列不可思议的胜利。她扭转了战争局面，为法国创下了非凡的胜利。此时，不管是感情多么冷淡的人，看到这里，也会情不自禁地感到欣慰吧。
她坚定地说：“人没有杀死人的理由。”因而她更重视她的军旗而不是她的剑。虽然她只是一个来自农村的文盲女孩，但跟随她的士兵却将她视为足智多谋的战术家和成功的战略家。人民相信她会带来胜利。
但事实并非如此。由于法国王权的腐朽，贞德并没有引领法国全胜，而是在1430年被俘。神职人员和法官的无耻都陷贞德于不利。最终法庭宣判她的罪名，并对她处以火刑。
看到贞德被绑在木架上，手中紧握着十字架，行刑的人点燃她脚下的干草，大火侵蚀着她的躯体，我的心痛得碎了。她死了，只剩下焦黑的'躯体和面目全非的头颅，我眼眶里的泪也快要流干了。仿佛刚刚还在感受法兰西胜利的喜悦，贞德就立于眼前，高举着代表法国尊严与荣耀的军旗。只一眨眼，就全都没有了。剩下的，只有贞德死去的事实和她残留在我心底的那双澄澈、毫无杂质的眼睛。
她不应该死，她真的不该死去。但她终究是死了。尽管她怀揣着善良、勇气和决心。
现在，只要一闭上眼睛，我的脑海里便会浮现出那个站在村头的纯真的奥地利少女，那个引领法国军队走向胜利的骑士，那个被绑在木架上被火刑处决的圣女。
现在，我只能通过回顾电影来记住她。因为，她是贞德，圣女贞德。
Learn to Live
——my thoughts after reading Joan of Arc
Sunshine shines over the statue in Orleans. The ordinary but famous girl named Joan is riding on her horse, smiling and looking down at the land that she has loved and fought on. She is the heroine of France, the saint from heaven. Her influences shine over every person’s heart, and I am deeply impressed by her story.
When Louis XIII was the king, the British and the Burundians invaded France and wanted to have the northern part of France. Joan helped French people coronate their new king, Louis XIV, getting almost all the invaded land back with the help of three saints. But after that, she was caught by the Burundians and was burnt on a cross by her enemy. This is the famous story about Joan, the saint. From a village girl to a national heroine, she only used a few years. How could Joan of Arc do that? I wonder.
Someone says the saints have chosen her and the God has given her power. But actually the real virgin doesn’t exist, From the birth of Jesus Christ in the first century, people have controlled the Christianity. I think the religion has become a tool between people. This kind of opinion about the success of Joan must be wrong.
Someone said, Joan had this wonderful success because of her confidence and will. I quite agree with this opinion. Because there aren’t any virgins in the world, so I think the appearance of the saints was only in Joan’s mind, actually nothing special happened to Joan. I think the things which really mattered were Joan’s thoughts. In my opinion, Joan must have some military ability to lead the whole army, because of her unusual image, Joan became more confident to the success. It let Joan had the will to be successful. So the success before did not happen by accident,. After some battles, Joan said that she had lost her support from the saints, but actually this didn’t mind. The more important thing was that she had lost her confidence and will, so she lost the battle at last.
So I think confidence and will are just like the foundation of success. All the success depends on them.
In the real world, confidence and will is always very important. During the XX Athens Olympic Games, Li Ting and Sun Tiantian have won the gold medal for the women’s double in the tennis game. It was the first time our anthem playing on the tennis court. Some medium says that they have won by chance. It was only a fairy tale. But I don’t think so. Actually they have won because of their believing in themselves, because they have confidence and will, so they have created a fairy tale in Greece. Their confidence and will have made the success, not by accident.
In our daily life, we must have confidence and will as well. Before the test we need to be confident to our actual strength or we’ll not give full play to our initiative. We need to be confident when we are speaking in public or others will not remember you among all the speakers. We need to have will in studying or we’ll not learn things solidly. We need to have will in our daily life or we’ll give up the things we are doing now. If we have confidence and will in our daily life, then I believe you’ll live brighter.
In this story, I also have some other opinions about some other scenes. For instance, I don’t like the way the saints treated Joan when Joan forgot the birthday of Virgin Mary. I think they have to give some time for her to explain herself. I like the way that Joan proved herself bravely as a female. I think the most important thing is not the differences in ***, but your views to this really matter.
So learn from this story, learn Joan’s braveness and her pureness, and learn to believe yourself, and get rid of all the bad habits and personalities of the characters in this story. We can avoid to be a coward, to be selfish and fatuous. Then every good personality we learn will be a blooming flower in our garden of heart and we’ll live with a life full of fragrantce!
