The chapter is called "The Council of Elrond," and in it many of the unanswered questions that have developed up to this point are addressed: Gandalf not rendezvousing with the Hobbits as promised, the fate of Gollum, how it is Sauron discovered the Ring was in the Shire, as well as the point of view of all the races of the Free Peoples in Middle Earth on the issue.
The Elves want it destroyed, but recognize the only place the Ring can be destroyed is in Orodruin (Mount Doom), which is in Sauron's stronghold of Mordor. It seems impossible to get there. The Dwarves suggest hiding it, but the Council says such a thing will not defeat Sauron, who would tear Middle Earth apart searching for it. Sauron, even without the Ring, is still very strong. Boromir of Gondor, the realm closest to Mordor, and which does constant battle with the Sauron's troops, encourages the Council to allow him to take It back to Minas Tirith to use against the Enemy. Though he is informed of the madness of his plan, he seems unconvinced.
No consensus can be reached. The Ring cannot be hidden or used, and while the idea of taking the Ring into Mordor seems to be the only one left, that still seems hopeless, as Elrond says, "This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong.". A silence falls over the Council as they ponder what to do. The Ring cannot remain in Rivendell, but if it is to be brought to Mordor, who will bring it? How can the Council send someone on such a hopeless journey?
At last with an effort [Frodo] spoke, and
wondered to hear his own words...
'I will take the Ring,
though I do not know the way.'
What a profound moment of determination. Frodo recognizes what must be done, and its importance. The Ring must be destroyed. And even though there is no hope of victory, it still must be done. But before it is done, it must be started.
Are there times you have decided to do something even before you knew precisely how to do it? I know I have. There are times in our lives when we know something must be done, but are not sure the precise way to do it. In that moment we are like lost hikers, who know they must get back to camp, but cannot say for sure which direction it is in. They can sit and wait until inspiration hits them (or starvation takes them), or they can begin to wander in the hopes of finding something that will direct them. Frodo, here, chooses to wander. So should we.
This week the world endured the death of Nelson Mandela, a truly larger than life figure who brought the end of Apartheid in South Africa. But his journey was not so simple. I don't mean to imply he endured resistance, though he did. Nelson Mandela (I will be using his whole name solely because it sounds so much more melodious than 'Mr. Mandela,' or simply even 'Mandela') saw the Apartheid of his country and decided it needed to end. But how?
At first he adhered to non-violent protest (as Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr had modeled in their own struggles), but later openly supported guerrilla groups that attacked the Apartheid government. He strongly advocated that the Blacks of South Africa fight for their rights on their own (for it seemed silly to him that, in fighting for the right to be equals, they should require the help of others), but he eventually acquiesced to the wishes of the majority of Blacks that they accept the help of willing outside parties (which ranged from Whites who believed in the cause of equality to the Soviets who hoped for a workers' revolution). Nelson Mandela traveled around Africa to garner support for the cause and yet also would rush back to his home mid-trip when needed. After being released from prison he courted the US (remember: they had accepted Soviet help years before), and ran for political office (again: he was arrested for trying to sabotage the government which, whether the government deserved it or not, is precisely what they were doing)
Nelson Mandela had a goal. He did not know how to accomplish it, but dammit he was going to try. And he did. And there were stumbles and failures and frustrations. His plans were always changing. While we can call him a dynamic leader able to react to a changing situation, I think it's more accurate to simply say: He was going to achieve his goal no matter how. By peace or by war, he was determined to end Apartheid, even if it killed him.
I don't point out the above to say Nelson Mandela was bumbling or inefficient. I bring this up because at so many points Nelson Mandela could have given up. Not because his enemies were too strong, but because the nature of his cause changed. He was not committed to non-violent protest, nor to military action. He just wanted Apartheid to end. When he found that one strategy was not working as well as he desired, he found a new one.
For contrast, let's take Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. While they both began with the same goal (ending discrimination in America), they both became dedicated to their methods more than their goal. Even to this day, they are seen as representing two opposite viewpoints. Rather than being seen as two figures of the Civil Rights movement, they are portrayed as titans struggling for ideological dominance. But, because Nelson Mandela moved back and forth from militancy to pacifism, he embodies all of Anti-Apartheid struggle. Nelson Mandela represents both those willing to use violence and those who wish to avoid it, and he unites them both toward their goal.
Surely few of us can hope to have the impact of Nelson Mandela - There can only be so many larger-than-life figures in the world. But his life is instructive in our understanding of this week's quote. So much of modernity requires planning. Interviewers will ask "Where do you see yourself in five years?". GPS give step-by-step instructions (And if they can't, they give no information until they can "reroute" you). The very idea of getting an educational degree at the age of 22 that will direct the rest of your life exudes this ideal to absurdity. Our culture loves plans.
But plans are for the lucky. Plans are for the informed. Sometimes you don't have all the information. Sometimes you're stuck in the proverbial wilderness without a hint of how to get to where you're going. But wherever you are, you cannot stay there. You must move. But to where?
I had a supervisor years ago at Eisner who used to say to us counselors: "We are all on the bus, but we're not sure where we're going. But we're going somewhere great." He meant it to mean that we have all the tools we could need - we had a vast variety of people and skills and passions. The summer would take us on a journey - and it was impossible to know the details of that journey ahead of time. But, that shouldn't worry us. We were all here, and as long as we worked together, we would have a great summer.
Sitting and waiting for inspiration to hit lends despair. The obstacles are still there, but now they seem even larger. After running through potential solutions in our head, the obstacle seems stronger with every imperfect solution. After a while, we become obsessed on the obstacle ahead of us, and the apparent impossibility of overcoming it, rather than the mission we hope to achieve. If we had stood up and wandered, we might have found another way around that wasn't clear before (and would never be clear from our earlier position). At the least, if we wander, we keep moving and feel like we're doing something. Hikers can starve whether they wait or wander. But those that wait give all hope to some Providence to give them the solution. Those that wander take matters into their own hand. They keep the larger goal in mind, rather than become rooted in the battle against one obstacle. There's a Jimmy Buffett quote that comes to my mind: "And the walls that won't come down we can decorate or climb or find some way to get around." If in fact the obstacle can't be broken down, that's no reason to admit defeat.
It all comes down to this: We live in a world of imperfect information. We can always know more. We are always, to one degree or another, in the dark. But if we let that darkness prevent us from taking any action, our lives will be frustrating and unfulfilled, and we will be disappointed in ourselves. We will view ourselves as victims in an unhappy world rather than agents of change. Rather, we should stand up and wander, even if we aren't quite sure to what purpose. Maybe we will find new routes, or new allies, or maybe just walking away for a moment and returning will allow us to see our current situation in a new light. As long as you keep your goal in mind, as Nelson Mandela has shown us and Frodo will show us, success is possible. You just have to stand up and try (and try and try and try again).
(Pretty much everything here about Nelson Mandela I learned from Wikipedia. My sincere apologies if I reported something that is actually untrue.)
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