Hello from my new desk, now in our library instead! Let's see if this new writing venue improves my punctuality.
This week we read "The Tower of Cirith Ungol." Leaving behind the rest of our heroes, we return to the land of Mordor, and Sam's rescue of Frodo. He is in enemy territory and at a disadvantage at every turn. During one confrontation with an orc we are told:
But the orc was in its own haunts, nimble and well-fed.
Sam was
a stranger, hungry and weary.
Sam's disadvantage is clear. However, the contrast is not as structured as it could be. In its own haunts/stranger are opposites, but nimble/hungry and well-fed/weary are incorrect. Nimble and well-fed should be switched. Although, even if the Creative Wizard had aligned those words, nimble and weary are not really opposites. What does this construction teach us?
The orc is defending his home. He is quick and has eaten recently. These things are important in that order - he has home advantage, as well as an advantage of being quick. Being quick isn't much help if you're in enemy territory, where you may not know where to go.
Well-fed seems an afterthought in comparison. Danger is afoot! Food can wait. Especially if he's recently eaten.
But Sam is out of his element. On top of that, he is hungry and tired (Particularly poor conditions for a hobbit). All three of these things will weigh him down. Danger is afoot and food can wait - but even if he wins the fight there is no guarantee of food (or rest).
The orc can consider his agility because he is well-fed. He is not weary to the point it doesn't even bear stating. Even if Sam could be nimble, he will not be now. We've all been hungry. Being hungry sucks. It can make you cranky and impact anything else you do. Whatever your potential is, hunger will inhibit it.
Being weary similarly can affect you, but for me anyway being hungry is worse. Maybe it's all those years at summer camp and working campus security - I not only have experience working odd hours but I really liked those jobs! Even if you can't get a full sleep at the moment you can at least get a quick 5-minute shut-eye. That's achievable in most places of our lives. But hunger requires something from outside - something we may not have on-hand.
Alternatively, perhaps because food is usually readily available to me (and eating is pleasurable) hunger is worse because I wonder how did I let myself get to this point? Why haven't I eaten? It's so easy to fix, whereas a quick shut-eye, in and of itself, isn't particularly pleasurable.
Biological needs, if met, can be forgotten. But if you ever need to eat or sleep or go to the bathroom or sit down and you're not able to then it suddenly becomes urgent. I think that's why hunger comes second but well-fed comes third.
It is a good reminder that not only do people experience needs differently, but the experience of needing can upend ourselves. When our needs are met it can be easy to forget what it's like when they are not. That means we have less compassion for those who are lacking - precisely those who need compassion more than others. It is important, then, to remember that lacking something is more than the lack; it also saps a person's energy or mood.
Learning people's points of view is essentially to living ethically - even if you disapprove you need to understand them in order to hope to persuade them (and if you don't hope to persuade them then you must endure their alternative point of view (or seek to kill them)). But people's points of view are more than the intellect and experience behind them. They are also their state of mind - hunger, exhaustion, pain, fright, etc. If you live comfortably, your persuasion of someone who is uncomfortablele ought to take that into account. Otherwise, your attempt will seem ridiculous and breed only contempt.
This had been a patreon-supported project, but that proved too annoying to maintain. If you would like to financially support this project, drop $1.11 (or any amount, I suppose) into my Venmo!
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