Of stones and gardens

"There is some good stone work here,' [Gimli] said as he looked at the walls; "but also some that is less good, and the streets could be better contrived..."
"They need more gardens," said Legolas.  "The houses are dead, and there is too little that grows and is glad..."

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In this week's chapter, titled "The Last Debate," we follow two stories.  The first is the reunion (again) of Legolas, Gimli, Merry and Pippin.  The second is the actual last debate, wherein Aragorn and Gandalf decide the only chance is to march to the gates of Mordor and challenge Sauron.  Not because they can win on the battlefield, but because if, as they hope, Frodo lives, his only chance of reaching Mount Doom requires Sauron's attention to be drawn elsewhere.

But earlier in the chapter, as Gimli and Legolas walk to the Houses of Healing to see Merry and Pippin, they have the above conversation.  They both say, if Sauron is defeated, that they will ask their people to help Aragorn build the city to new glory.  With strong stones and growing gardens.

We've already discussed the need to balance productivity and happiness.  There's little need to repeat in full.  But what precisely is productive and what makes us happy?  As veteran internet users know, Yahoo! Answers provides little help.  Still, it is interesting to browse that entry.  Here are what some people say make them happy:

• Lemon Gelato 
• Listening to Smile by Lily Allen
• Hugs (of course)
• Watching TV
• Screaming at my sister
• Sleeping [voted best answer]

Do these things makes you happy?  Maybe.  But if you don't like lemon gelato, being given it probably won't make you happier.  And hugs?  We've all had times when we want to be left alone, and any company is unwanted.  And sleeping?  Personally, I wish I could go through my days without sleep - I consider sleep a task I have to do.  But obviously that is only me.

I have a decent idea of what makes me happy.  You probably have an idea of what makes you happy.  What if our answers are different?  That's fine.  "You do you, and I'll do me.". Today, I had a day off from camp and I went to 5 Guys and sat alone at a table listening to a podcast.  I enjoyed myself greatly.  Would you enjoy that?

A lot of people at camp want to spend their days off with people hanging out and relaxing.  For the most part, I need my days off for my "me time" I tend to not get at camp.  But that's what relaxes me and makes me happy.  Different people are different, with different needs.

The need to be industrious is a little trickier.  We can all intuitively grasp the need for relaxation, but work?  Work is that thing no one likes.  I was teaching my religious school students that one of the best mitzvot (Good deeds) you can do for a needy person is to give them a job so they no longer are needy.  One of the kids responded, "But my dad HATES his job.  Why would I want to give a job to someone else??!"

But being industrious, being effective, being productive has huge positive benefits, too. We get satisfaction from work.  Well, we might.  To quote the parable from that article:

A young man, walking down a road, came upon a laborer fiercely pounding

away at a stone with hammer and chisel. The lad asked the worker, who looked frustrated

and angry, "What are you doing?" The laborer answered in a pained voice: "I'm trying to

shape this stone, and it is backbreaking work." The youth continued his journey and

soon came upon another man chipping away at a similar stone, who looked neither

particularly angry nor happy. "What are you doing," he asked? "I'm shaping a stone for a building."

The young man went on and before long came to a third worker chipping away at a stone,

but this worker was singing happily as he worked. "What are you doing?"

The worker smiled and replied: "I'm building a cathedral."  

 

Why do you work?  Do you work for a paycheck?  If that's how you view your job, it is unlikely you enjoy it very much.  That isn't necessarily bad, but obviously there is a better alternative.  You can find a job that is aligned with your passion.  Then your 'work' fulfills you in a deeper way than just financially.  It doesn't really matter what, but if you believe in the work you are doing, you will enjoy it more and leave each day feeling truly fulfilled.  Work can become a place of inspiration, instead of a place of despair.

 

Unfortunately, we can't all be building cathedral's all the time.  Even if we are fortunate enough to truly enjoy our work, there are always going to be parts we like less than others.  At camp, I need to make schedules every week for my staff.  It is important: my staff need to know where they are supposed to go.  Otherwise, camp won't function well.  But I definitely didn't get into camp work because I enjoy making schedules.

Then again, the worker building the cathedral is still a mason, chipping and shaping a stone.  I wonder what would happen if I viewed scheduling as a part of camp that directly leads to smiling happy campers.  I'd probably, if not take more joy in it, then at least see the work as less of a drag.

Our life needs good stonework - we need work that we see the purpose in, we need work that fulfills us.  Even if you don't have that as a job, you can volunteer places, work on a hobby, or maybe you have kids to raise.  Sometimes we have jobs that suck.  But if we then go home, lie on the couch, complain to our friends, and then return back the next day, we aren't being fulfilled.  We need more than that.  We need to be industrious, we need to make a tangible, if small, effect on the world.  Otherwise, we will view our lives as meaningless very quickly.

Still, we also need gardens.  "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."  We need our pleasures.  Not all of our needs can be met at work, even if we have our dream job.  Relaxing, whatever that means to you, is important for us.  Plus, it is difficult to truly enjoy your work if you never have time to see it.  And we need to find time to appreciate and enjoy it.  We need things that "grow and is glad."

We're all embroiled in one struggle or another.  Few of us have our lives exactly as we want.  But in that struggle, don't forget your goal.  You don't want to become the monster, do you?  No.  You want to go beyond being the warrior.  And that's where stones and gardens come in.  After a long battle, be sure to have indulge in some relaxation.  You'll deserve it.  It will help you appreciate what you were fighting for in the first place.

And then, even if you have the life you want, if you've defeated all the struggles in your life (Lucky you!) you still need something to strive for.  You're still going to yearn to make cathedrals.  And whether that's working your dream job, or volunteering in your free time, or building Westeros in Minecraft, as long as it is a task you find fulfilling, that leaves a mark on the world you're proud of, you're going to want to go do it.  So go and do!

Why do you think I began this blog?  Because I wanted to do something productive in my free time that I would be proud of.  I'm glad to say this blog has done precisely that for me (except for these past few weeks, because "free time" and "camp" are practically mutually exclusive).  Still, I use what little free time I have to work on it.  Why?  Because I find it more fulfilling than relaxing.  And maybe you agree.  Or maybe you think I'm crazy.

Whatever.  We all need stones and gardens.  My stones are my work and this blog.  My gardens are reading, fantasy baseball, and video games (Oh, and recently, Magic cards).  Yours are probably different.  I'm not here to tell you what they should be.  I'm just telling you that you should know what they are for you, and that you should find time for both.

How to: Blog

Gah!  I am over a week late - no apology can suffice.  But perhaps results are the best apology?  Rather than spend hours I do not have finding, writing and honing a teaching from the text, I will instead let the curtain down a little on my process.  In other words:  How to blog!

Whenever I read a chapter, I take notes of meaningful quotes that crop up.  I then comb through my notes and find the one (or two or three) that really seem to have some meaning to unpack.  Then I write a draft.  Then I walk away for an hour or so, come back, edit and then post.

Today, however, I don't have time for that.  So instead, I am going to share all the quotes I took notes on and briefly write what I think they mean and what they can teach us.  A bunch of short thoughts.  All of these will be incomplete ideas.  But hopefully they will give you something to think about.

Synopsis!  This week (err, last week) we read two chapters:  "The Pyre of Denethor" & "The Houses of Healing."  They are emotionally opposing chapters - "The Pyre of Denethor" representing despair, and "The Houses of Healing" representing hope.  In the first chapter, Denethor attempts to burn himself and Faramir.  He has given up all hope of victory, and finds death more comforting than defeat.  Pippin and Gandalf intercede and Faramir is saved.  Denethor, however, still commits suicide.  He does not know that, at that moment, Aragorn has arrived and the battle is won.

In "The Houses of Healing," Merry, Eowyn, and many others have been brought into the city to be cared for.  However, it is clear that many need healing beyond what is in the city.  Aragorn secretly enters the city (He fears entering the city openly, as king, may divide the city into competing factions) and heals everyone.  Rumors begin to spread in the city that the king, who is foretold to have 'the hands of a healer,' has returned at last.

The quotes!

Pyre of Denethor

"And [Pippin] stood listening to the horns [of the arriving Rohirrim], and it seemed to him that they would break his heart with joy.  And never in after years could he hear a horn blown in the distance without tears starting in his eyes."

A piece on memories, on moments that affect us forever in small but significant ways.  I can't hear "Superfreak" without thinking of Eisner.  The phrase "secret word" always reminds me of Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

Connect to camp.  Everything we do can have a lasting impact, even if it is unintended.  It is hard to predict which of our actions will stick with people.  Always be a role model, always make positive moments.  At least make the tears people cry "in after years" happy ones.

"Can't you save Faramir?" [said Pippin]
"Maybe I can," said Gandalf, "But if I do, then others will die, I fear.  Well, I must come, since no other help can reach him.  But evil and sorrow will come of this.  Even in the heart of our stronghold the Enemy  has power to strike us..."
Then, having made up his mind, he acted swiftly.

Gandalf is clearly torn about what to do, but he acts without hesitation.  "When in thought, act as though you have all the time in the world.  When in action, act as though you are already too late.". Take time to consider the situation, but once you have a decision, run with it.  Rarely is inaction better than a poor action.

The Houses of Healing

"I will ride to Lossarnach with Ioreth behind me, and she shall take me to the woods, but not to her sisters." [said Gandalf]

Context:  Ioreth is a healer in the city who says there is a special weed that grows in the woods, but that she and her sisters knew a song that only the king knew how to use the weed as medicine.
Why does Gandalf specify the woods but not her sisters?  He needs the object, he does not need more information.  Gandalf also knows Ioreth would probably want to visit her family, but there is no time.

Why "the" woods and "her" sisters.  Perhaps because one cannot own the woods.  Something about family ties VS stewardship towards Earth.  Maybe?

"My friend, Gandalf said [to Eomer] you had horses, and deeds of arms, and the free fields, but she, born in the body of a maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours.  Yet [Eowyn] was doomed to wait upon an old man... and her part seemed to her more ignoble than that of the staff he leaned on."

Surprisingly progressive, given everything else in the book.  It acknowledges, in an indirect way, that Eowyn was physically a women, but not necessarily a women on the inside.  Gender fluidity.  But is there something sexist in saying "a spirit and courage" to match yours?  As if women usually have less spirit and courage?  Or maybe they have different spirit and courage?  How is Eowyn a role model for women?  And isn't it peculiar that the women we learn the most about and sympathize with the most ends up acting similarly to all the men in the book, so much so that she dresses up as a man?  Is Eowyn a feminist figure (a woman doing all the things men can do, and maybe more (killing the Nazgul))?  Or is Eowyn an affirmation that women can only become worthy of praise by acting like men? 

[Eowyn whispered] "To health?  It may be so.  At least while there's an empty saddle of some fallen rider that I can fill, and there are deeds to do.  But to hope?  I do not know."

Eowyn sees herself as a tool, and that she has a goal to achieve.  Health is needed for that.  But hope allows one to see beyond current circumstances, and to see what possibilities lie beyond.  Without hope, Eowyn becomes a tragic figure stuck in a narrow mindset.  This quote also sets the table for Eowyn's eventual 'redemption' (which is also distasteful to modern minds.  Eowyn's 'redemption' basically requires her to become "a good wife."  Can we have wider hopes for woman today?  Is this Tolkien being held back by the standards of his time, or was Tolkien, in fact, a sexist?)

OK, that's it!  Sunday I have my next day off, and I intend to do the post that was due THIS week, and then Monday morning the one that is due this Sunday.  And then we'll be back on track.  Until "camp" interrupts again.

PS. Camp will interrupt again.  It always does.

War: Terrible Even in Victory

This week's chapter is called "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields."  We rejoin Theoden and his forces as they break the siege on Gondor.  The battle is a victory, but the chapter repeatedly reminds us that war is the real enemy.  There is a cost.

The previous chapter (With our re-ordering) ends with the gate to Gondor being broken down, and the Lord of the Nazgûl leading the charge into the city.  Gandalf challenges him, but he raises his sword, which becomes wreathed in flames.  Things do not look good.

Meanwhile, the Rohirrim, having broken the siege, are on the move against the Haradrim, who are the same enemies we saw Faramir fight in the previous book.  They destroy many of them, but the situation reverses suddenly when the Black Captain himself, riding a terrible beast, swoops in from on high.  He, sensing the siege was broken, had retreated from the gate to address the situation.  Many of the men are thrown from their horses, which are unable to withstand his terror.  Snowmane, Theoden's horse, rears up and falls.  Theoden is crushed beneath him.  Merry and Dernhelm are also thrown off their horse, and Merry looks up to watch the Black Captain approach Theoden, who is struggling to get out from under Snowmane.

"'King's man!  King's man!'  [Merry's] heart cried within him.  'You must stay by him.  "As a father you shall be to me," you said.'  But his will made no answer." Merry is paralyzed by fear.

Suddenly, a figure jumps between the Nazgûl and Theoden.  It's Dernhelm!  The Black Captain warns him to get out of the way, and that "No living man may hinder me!" We are told "Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest.  It seemed the Dernhelm laughed..." and takes off his helmet.  His?  No, hers.  It's Eowyn!  "You look upon a woman."

"The winged creature screamed at her, but the Ringwraith made no answer, and was silent, as if in sudden doubt...  Eowyn it was, and Dernhelm also."

The Black Captain rears his beast, but Eowyn takes her sword and beheads it.  The Ringwraith raises his mace and hurls it against Eowyn.  She defends the blow, but her arm breaks.  She falls to the ground and he stands above her, readying to kill her.

But suddenly he drops his weapon; Merry has stabbed him in the heel with his sword - the very sword found in the Barrow-Wight mound at the very beginning of our adventure.  The sword, which we are told was enchanted for the specific purpose of harming Nazgûl, is disintegrates.  Eowyn, "with her last strength" drives her own sword into the Black Captain's face (Which, though invisible, is framed by his crown), and he is destroyed.  Eowyn collapses.

Merry pulls himself to Theoden's side, who says: "I go to my fathers.  And even in their mighty company I shall not now be ashamed."

Around this time Eomer, whose horse had fled when the Black Captain arrived, returns.  Theoden names him king, and then dies.  Eomer's first action is to acknowledge the slaughter.  But things soon go amiss.

He looked at the slain, recalling their names.  Then suddenly he beheld his

sister Eowyn as she lay, and he knew her.  He stood a moment

as a man who is pierced in the midst of a cry by an arrow through the heart.

Then his face went deathly white; and a cold fury rose in him, so that all speech failed him

for a while.  A fey mood took him.

'Eowyn!  Eowyn!'  He cried at last.

Eomer charges recklessly into battle, crying "Death!  Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!"  And he might have led the Rohirrim to a fateful end if they had not come upon men of Gondor, who have evidently beaten back the Enemy's offensive at the gate.  The commander of that troop, Prince Imrahil, notices that Eowyn is, while gravely wounded, not actually dead.

Inspired by this, the Rohirrim battle more strategically towards Minas Tirith.  Suddenly, from down the Anduin, come ships of the south.  Despair rises again, though it is quickly replaced with relief, as its flag comes into view - it is Aragorn, and the flag is that of the King of Gondor!  Aragorn has survived the Paths of the Dead, and now with him follows an army of restless souls.  They slaughter their foes.  The battle is won.

But the chapter does not end with the victory.  It ends with a song.  The Song of the Mounds of Mundburg.  In part:

"We heard of the horns in the hills ringing,
the swords shining in the South-kingdom,
Steeds went striding to the Stoningland
as wind in the morning. War was kindled.
There Théoden fell, Thengling mighty,
to his golden halls and green pastures
in the Northern fields never returning,
high lord of the host. Harding and Guthláf,Dúnhere and Déorwine, doughty Grimbold,Herefara and Herubrand, Horn and Fastred,
fought and fell there in a far country:
in the Mounds of Mundburg under mould they lie
with their league-fellows, lords of Gondor."

This is not a song of victory, but a song of cost.  What was the cost of freedom?  In war, even our victories are bitter.

Snowmane, Theoden's horse, receives a burial mound, and a stone is set up as a marker.  Part of it reads: "Faithful servant yet master's bane."  In war, even our companions may be our end.

When Theoden dies, he mourns two things.  That he will not be able to sit with Merry and learn about the Shire, as he promised; and that he cannot say good bye to Eowyn.  The text says, "And so he died, and knew not that Eowyn lay near him."  In war, even those who are near us may not be able to help us.

Eomer temporarily goes mad with grief, and is saved only when Imrahil intervenes.  In war, even hardened soldiers can break.

The victory is so absolute that the text tells us, "And to the land of Haradrim came only a tale from far off; a rumor of the wrath and terror of Gondor."  Gondor is not going to attack the land of Haradrim (Harad).  But, in the fog of war, Gondor receives a reputation for being ruthless and terrible.  Even when Sauron is defeated, there will not be peace between Gondor and the Haradrim.  In war, even victories can increase enmity.

War is awful.  It turns the world upside down.  Recall Tolkien's experience in World War I and World War II.  While soldiers may form a unique and treasured bond with one another, it would be pretty terrible if we advocated for war because of that bond. 

This chapter tells of an unquestionable victory.  The Lord of the Nazgûl, previously believed to be invincible, is no more.  Aragorn arrives as king and slaughters the servants of Sauron.  But we are constantly reminded of the cost and evil of war.  It is not to be celebrated.  As Faramir said in The Two Towers: "War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory.  I love only that which they defend."

 The beast the Ringwraith rode is burned.  We are told that while "Green and long grew the grass" where Snowmane was buried, "ever black and bare was the ground where the beast was burned."  Some wounds of war will never heal, even if they are attained in victory.