Taking Care of Business

'Boromir is dead.' said Aragorn.  'I am unscathed,

for I was not here with him.  He fell defending the

hobbits while I was away upon the hill.'

'The Hobbits!' cried Gimli, 'Where are they then?

Where is Frodo?'

'I do not know,' answered Aragorn wearily.  Before he

died Boromir told me that the Orcs had bound

them; he did not think that they were dead.  I sent

him to follow Merry and Pippin; but I did not ask

him if Frodo or Sam were with him: not until it was too late.

All that I have done today has gone amiss.

What is to be done now?'

'First we must tend the fallen,' said Legolas.

We cannot leave him lying like

carrion among these foul Orcs.'

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This week's chapter is called "The departure of Boromir."  While we've been led to expect that Boromir is simply going to head west and return to Minas Tirith.  After all, in the previous chapter the Fellowship broke apart (with Frodo and Sam leaving everyone else).  So Boromir has nothing holding him back from going home.  However, as shown above, he actually departs much more literally (Or less literally - I don't know).

Time is pressing - the Hobbits have been captured, and the Ring might be on the way to the Enemy (we know Frodo and Sam have escaped capture, but Aragorn and Gimli and Legolas do not).  And yet Legolas insists that Boromir's body be tended.  Boromir is dead and will be dead for a long time - they could come back.  They have a far more important mission in which time is of the essence (and upon which the whole world depends).

But still, Legolas insists, and Gimli and Aragorn agree (Though Gimli says, "But we must be swift, he would not wish us to linger.").  Why?  Setting aside the spiritual/religious mandate to tend the dead, what purpose is there in this?  Boromir won't know the difference.  Why should the dead take precedence over the living?

Personally, I think they were just hoping to tie up their loose ends.  If they left, even if they knew they would never return, it would be in the back of their mind.  They left a fallen companion without caring for him.  At best this is merely a distraction: They didn't live up to their own expectations of themselves.  At worst it becomes something more:  In trying to save the world from evil, they gave up on some of their principles.  If you need to sacrifice your principles to achieve something, was it really worth achieving?  It's that old question:  If murdering a newborn was the price for peace on Earth, who would do it?  And what would we think of that person?

There is an added bonus.  In tending Boromir's body and collecting the weapons nearby ("Let us lay him in a boat with his weapons, and the weapons of his vanquished foes.  We will send him to the Falls of Rauros and give him to the Anduin.") they come across clues of the Hobbits.  They find two swords that were given to the hobbits by Galadriel in Lothlorien.  They also discover, upon closer examination, that their foes were not of Mordor, but rather of Isengard, and so were sent by Saruman.  This is crucial information, as Isengard is west, while Mordor is to the east.  If they hadn't taken the time to tend to Boromir's body, they would have gone the wrong way!

Passion is a powerful and excellent tool, but it can lead us astray if it is not tempered with a pause now and then.  Unbridled passion, without direction or intention, can be very dangerous, or at least make one look crazy.  When they find Boromir's body and hear that the Hobbits have been taken, Aragorn and Gimli and Legolas all want to give chase immediately - they want revenge.  But, as we know, bortaS bIr jablu'DI', reH QaQqu' nay'.  While I've always imagined this proverb means revenge feels better when served cold, I now think it might mean it is simply more effective to dish it out after you've had a chance to calm down.  Seeking revenge when you're still angry can lead to sloppy mistakes.  You lose your principles.  You focus on the goal "MUST GET VENGEANCE!" rather than the method "Step 1, step 2, step 3... GET VENGEANCE!"  You're almost doomed to failure.

And so this passage teaches us two lessons: we should take the time, before starting a new task, to ensure as much of our old tasks are wrapped up.  Second, before we act on our passions, we must step back and evaluate our evidence and develop a method.  Otherwise, we will go west when we should be going east.  Passion is an excellent engine, but it needs a reflective and thoughtful driver to go anywhere productive...