On protection

This week we read "Many Partings" and "Homeward Bound," our final double chapter.  The ending of our text reverses the outward trip.  Many Partings mirrors the title "Many Meetings", which tells of the Hobbits arriving in Rivendell, where the Fellowship is formed.  In this chapter, the Fellowship is officially dissolved, and the Hobbits head to Rivendell to spend time with Bilbo, before eventually leaving him, too.  In Homeward Bound they return to Bree village and have a talk with Butterbur, the innkeeper, at whose tavern they met Strider and accidentally revealed the Ring.  He tells them things have changed for the worse since they left.  There have been fights and fires, and a few people have died.  Robbers and wolves assail the village.

You see, we’re not used to such troubles; and the Rangers have all gone away,
folk tell me. I don’t think we’ve rightly understood till now what they did for us.

We know what happened to the Rangers, they answered Aragorn's call to come to Minas Tirith to assist against Mordor.  A valiant purpose, but they left those they'd secretly protected suddenly vulnerable.

On the one hand, Bree (and the Shire) has developed what I think the Creative Wizard considers the ideal culture: Farming, drinking, laughing, celebrating.  They ignore the outside problems of the world, and those outside problems ignore them.

That's what we're made to think at the start of the book, anyway.  But now we see those outside problems were always trying to get in and it was the vigilance of the Rangers who kept them out - Rangers whom the people have never felt warmly toward!  This is how Barliman introduces Aragorn to Frodo in the beginning of the text: "He is one of the wandering folk – Rangers we call them. He seldom talks: not but what he can tell a rare tale when he has the mind. He disappears for a month, or a year, and then he pops up again. He was in and out pretty often last spring; but I haven’t seen him about lately. What his right name is I’ve never heard: but he’s known round here as Strider."

He was popping in and out keeping the peace!

We tend to think of a peaceful world as a world without conflict.  If there is conflict or injustice anywhere we are not in a peaceful world.  But that deprives us from appreciating goodness when we do have it.  Perfection is not the only thing worth celebrating.  But imperfection necessitiates maintance, and we should appreciate those who maintain our world wh.

If the Rangers are guilty of anything it was keeping their vigilance a secret.  They could have spent some of that time sharing their efforts with the locals and offering to train those who wished to join.  Instead they are so secretive no one even knows that they leave, except that their lives get worse once they're gone.

We're all guilty of secretly protecting people, in one way or another.  But that can make them dependent on us.  If we really want to protect whoever or whatever it is, we should empower it to be involved in its own safety.  Perhaps the Rangers believed destroying Mordor outweighed protecting Bree, since they were taking the fight to the source.  In that case this chapter reminds us that although The Ring has been destroyed, there is still violence and greed and other bads in the world.  They still should have included the locals in their watches.

We've said, over and over again, that all power is bad.  This includes powers we would use to protect others.  Protecting someone is a form of exercising power over them - you're preventing them from harm.  This is OK for children; All kindergartens should be protected, but all kindergarteners, eventually, grow up.  They need to learn how to protect themselves, and to take the risks of life upon themselves.

It is a false safety to be so protective of someone they become dependent on you.  They are actually more vulnerable.  If you die or leave to deal "with the source," they are ill-equipped to protect themselves.  True protection comes with empowerment.  In my line of work it's called faded supports - supporting someone less and less so they can practice more and more independence until finally you aren't needed at all.

It is natural to want to protect those we love from the dangers of the world.  But, if we love them, we also will want them to grow into autonomous and independent selves, which means facing those risks on their own.  So while we protect them we must also empower them.  This is the best protection we can provide - protection they can take with them when we are gone.

But that requires us to, first, tell them of the dangers.  We may not want to.  If we can protect them, why even burden them with the knowledge of their existence?  Well, at some point they will find out - don't you want to be involved in that?  We hoard power over them when we avoid these hard conversations.  And at some point we won't be there, and their dependence on us will become a great liability.  We should prepare them for that inevitability.

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On boredom

I hate being bored.  More than that, I am afraid of boredom, and am excessive when it comes to avoiding it.  Whenever I go on a trip I bring no less than 2 books and 3 board games - and usually also my Switch or 3DS.  And of course I always have my phone.  And not just trips out of town, but trips to Revere Beach in the afternoon.  Maiar forbid I just enjoy the ocean!

This project, too, is an effort to ward off boredom.  I don't like the idea of coming home from work and having nothing to do.  I don't just like goals, it's that even temporary goallessness makes me feel unmoored.

This week we read "The Steward and the King," which first follows the beginning of Eowyn and Faramir's love story, and then finishes with the culmination of the love story between Aragorn and Arwen.  When Eowyn and Faramir are introduced, it is because she has requested to see him so she can ask if she can leave the House of Healing.

‘What do you wish?’ he said again. ‘If it lies in my power, I will do it.’ ‘I would have you
command this Warden, and bid him let me go,’ she said; but though her words were still
proud, her heart faltered, and for the first time she doubted herself. She guessed that
this tall man, both stern and gentle, might think her merely wayward, like a child that
has not the firmness of mind to go on with a dull task to the end.
‘I myself am in the Warden’s keeping,’ answered Faramir. ‘Nor have I yet taken up my authority
in the City. But had I done so, I should still listen to his counsel, and should
not cross his will in matters of his craft, unless in some great need.’

Ethics is doing the harder thing - and there's little in this world I find harder than being bored.  I do not have the firmness of mind to go on with a dull task.  I often interleave at least two tasks at once, so when one becomes dull I can switch.  At work a lot of my tasks are administrative, like data entry.  It gets dull.  So I'll do tasks two at once - making the weekly schedule and writing daily progress notes - and switch back and forth as necessary to keep my attention sharp (or, if you like, undulled).

Another way to keep your attention sharp is to interrupt the dullness.  My practice of turning away from dullness is close to that, but many inject excitement into dull activities.  But most of what is dull is inherently so.  If you change that you change what you are doing.  As the above references, protest movements which allow demonstrations that are exciting and eye-catching will be less effective.  Specific goals, closed-door meetings, and difficult compromises are less interesting and require a firmness of mind.  A belief you will get where you want to go, that whatever you're getting now is a good step, and an expectation people at least some people will be unhappy with you, but you're acting for the cause, not for approval.

Every march I've attended has a moment when things start to drag - you can only chant so much before it gets repetetive.  It is these moments when things break down - as if the point of the protest is to engage those protesting, and not agitate those in power.  

As with my work - I'm doing the task to get the data in.  There's not a good way to 'spice it up' without degrading the quality.  Microsoft Excel doesn't appreciate flair.

Another way to combat dullness is by becoming very interested in the activity.  We can't always control what interests us, but we all know there's some topic we can excitedly talk about in great detail even as the life drain's from our audience's eyes.  The difference between something being fascinating or complicated is your level of interest.  If something is dull, you're probably not interested in it.

Eowyn does not lack firmness of mind entirely.  She becomes bored of healing because she doesn't want the healing.  But she's shown firmness recently:  She rode in secret from Rohan to Gondor - keeping Merry hidden, too!  Hiding can be exciting when you're being hunted, but nobody even thinks she's there.  She doesn't even tell Merry, who'd have no reason to tell anyone!

Eowyn wants to ride out and fight - and die!  She has a deathwish - which is necessarily unethical: Dying is easy!  She could use this time to develop some other skill, or speak to others in the House, or even just rest.  She has no interest in living a life - this is why she finds healing dull.  It's pushing her backward from her goal.  She wants to fight, she wants glory - and specifically a glorious death.

But ultimately learning to embrace boredom - a hard thing indeed! - can make for a very ethical life.  Boredom implies you'd like to do something else. You probably can; We always have lots of choices in life.  But just because you can do something doesn't mean you'd do it well, or that it's the right (or even a useful) choice.  If you're injured you go to the hospital and listen to the doctors and nurses.  If you're on a plane you let the pilot fly it.  If you're hungry at a restaurant you don't barge into the kitchen.

It is now Monday evening and I absolutely must finish this post.  This is an unfinished thought, and I may return and amend it.  But I think becoming tolerant of boredom is important to living an ethical life.  Not because boredom isn't annoying, but because disrupting our boredom is not the highest good.  It may be the best thing for us to sit by and let others take action - or react to what we are doing.  We don't need to be in charge all the time, or pound people over the head with a message.  Let them sleep on it.  When we act, we necessarily are using our power.  Power is a dangerous tool.  But "...we cannot eliminate power. The best we can do is create a balance of it..." Sometimes that means empowering others, sometimes that means disempowering ourselves - or at least not using all that we have.  Sometimes the harder thing is boring.  That does not excuse us from doing it.

 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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On forever

This week begins the winding down of our text.  The Ring has been destroyed, and now we only must see through our characters and where they all end up.  Frodo and Sam, rescued by Gandalf and the Eagles, are now in Gondor, and - having slept for some days - are told they will be honored for their success.

Frodo and Sam were led apart and brought to a tent, and there their old raiment was taken off, but folded
and set aside with honour; and clean linen was given to them. Then Gandalf came and in his arms, to the wonder
of Frodo, he bore the sword and the elven-cloak and the mithril-coat that had been taken from him in Mordor.
For Sam he brought a coat of gilded mail, and his elven-cloak all healed of the soils and hurts that it
had suffered; and then he laid before them two swords.
‘I do not wish for any sword,’ said Frodo.
‘Tonight at least you should wear one,’ said Gandalf.
Then Frodo took the small sword that had belonged to Sam, and had been laid at his side in Cirith Ungol.
‘Sting I gave to you Sam,’ he said.
‘No, master! Mr. Bilbo gave it to you, and it goes with his silver coat; he would not wish anyone else to wear it now.’
Frodo gave way.

We understand why Frodo doesn't want a sword.  He's been through a lot, he's missing a finger on his sword-hand, and at no point in the Quest was he a particularly eager or skilled fighter.  He also gave Sting to Sam and may feel some dishonor at taking it back, even just for a performance.

We'd expect Gandalf to be more sympathetic.  We've already learned Gandalf thought the Quest was a fool's hope.  Having gone through with it, succeeded, and survived(!), why is Gandalf pressuring him to wear a sword in a ceremony?  If anyone can be exempt of expectations, it should be Frodo!

But Frodo, the hero, still has a role to play.  Middle Earth will not endure any more because of Frodo's choices.  He has done the Quest and now must accept the gratitude of Gondor.  That means appearing as they expect him - ready to do battle.  Perhaps one day they will understand Frodo's Quest is not comparable to the defense of Gondor, but the people had just survived two terrible battles, and decades of aggression (not to mention the battles in their histories against Sauron).  It may be difficult for them to accept a hero who was also not a warrior.  Gandalf knows this.  If they see Frodo as he is, they may be resentful the solution was so simple - or resentful their savior didn't take it as seriously.  Resentment is a powerful poison.  They require the hero they imagine.  Frodo sticking to his self-image will only undermine the victory he worked so hard to gain.

Sam is much more surprising in his stance.  Sam would do anything for Frodo - what does he care that he not only has a sword, but Sting in particular?  Sam, again, realizes the importance of meeting the expectations of others, but Sam's focus is on who Frodo cares about, which is not the people of Gondor, but of Bilbo.

Bilbo will hear of this celebration - he will certainly ask Frodo to describe it to him even if he's heard it before.  He'll feel very good knowing he contributed to his nephew's prestige, and Frodo will enjoy seeing his uncle's pride.  Sam knows this, and so he pushes Frodo because he knows Frodo will, eventually, wish he had done it, if only for the sake of a good tale.

Often we want what is easy for ourselves, but what is best for others.  We're all familiar with seeing a problem clearly when someone else is facing it but somehow be paralyzed by indecision when that problem is our own.  Sam knows what Frodo will want to have done, and that Frodo will have to endure the consequences of his actions for longer than the actual actions.  Sam also knows Frodo will oblige if he thinks his uncle will gain satisfaction from it.  Frodo will only do the harder thing if he believes it is for the benefit of another.  Indeed that's been Frodo's MO all along.

If Frodo had gotten his way he would have taken part in a celebration which would belittle him, and thus the Quest he endured so much to achieve.  He would have had to face Bilbo's pity that he did not enjoy the revelry, rather than bask in his joy at his own success.  Forever.

Forever is a long time.  The present pleasure or leisure will be fleeting, but we can carry the sense of accomplishment of a hard task for a long time.  We can carry the shame of shirking our duties for a long time, too.

The lesson, then, is not just to push ourselves toward accomplishment, but to understand we will all fail to do so if we are alone.  We must surround ourselves with people who want what's best for us, not best for their comfort (which would lead them to avoid arguments and to indulge us).  If someone is pushing you it is because they value not just the present-you but future-you who will have to deal with the consequences of your actions.  They want future-you to look at present-you and be proud.

I have occasionally heard people say an accomplishment wasn't worth the effort - I have rarely heard them then say they wish they'd never done it.  I've never heard someone say they were glad they gave into their impulses.  But give in we will, unless we have someone else with us who will remind us of our values and that our life's worth is not measured in pleasure or leisure, but in our accomplishments and what we did for other people.  The easy choice can give us a moment of pleasure followed by a lifetime of regret.

Update:  In the next chapter we hear someone from Gondor say, "One of [the hobbits] went with only his esquire into the Black Country and fought with the Dark Lord all by himself, and set fire to his Tower, if you can believe it." 

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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On comparing

This past weekend I was busy hosting Boston Massacre, a Diplomacy Tournament, and though I hoped to use Sunday evening or Monday to post, I am frankly much too exhausted and now it is Tuesday.  So rather than share my thoughts about these comparisons I found, I'll just leave the comparisons, and leave the thinking to all of you :)

This week we read "Mount Doom," the final struggle of the Ring, and its lucky destruction.  During this chapter Sam rises to the occasion in two specific ways similar to Frodo earlier in our text.  First, Sam is reflecting on the people he left behind in the Shire, and how everything has gone wrong since Gandalf died in Moria.  Recalling this grief, we are told,

But even as hope died in Sam, or seemed to die, it was turned to a new strength. Sam’s plain
hobbit-face grew stern, almost grim, as the will hardened in him, and he felt through all his
limbs a thrill, as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair
nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue.

This parallels very nearly with Frodo's experience in the Barrows.

But though his fear was so great that it seemed to be part of the very darkness that was round him,
he found himself as he lay thinking about Bilbo Baggins and his stories, of their jogging along
together in the lanes of the Shire and talking about roads and adventures.There is a seed of courage
hidden (often deeply, it is true) in the heart of the fattest and most timid hobbit, waiting for some
final and desperate danger to make it grow. Frodo was neither very fat nor very timid; indeed, though he
did not know it, Bilbo (and Gandalf) had thought him the best hobbit in the Shire. He thought
he had come to the end of his adventure, and a terrible end, but the thought hardened him. He found
himself stiffening, as if for a final spring; he no longer felt limp like a helpless prey.

Shortly later Sam has picked Frodo up and walked with him on his back up the slope of the mountain.  There is no path, nor can he see any opening into the mountain.  After a while, he puts Frodo down, exhausted at the effort.

Frodo opened his eyes and drew a breath. It was easier to breathe up here above the reeks that
coiled and drifted down below. ‘Thank you, Sam,’ he said in a cracked whisper. ‘How far is
there to go?’ ‘I don’t know,’ said Sam, ‘because I don’t know where we’re going.’

And this is what Frodo says at the conclusion of the Council of Elrond,

‘I will take the Ring,’ he said, ‘though I do not know the way.’

Let me know your thoughts!

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On defiance

This week we read "The Land of Shadow."  While Return of the King begins with my favorite chapter (Minas Tirith) it also has my least favorite as well, this one.  There isn't a lot going on, and it drags.  Unless perhaps it is meant to evoke the feeling of wandering through the desolate land of Mordor.

As Sam and Frodo journey through Mordor on the last stage of their Quest they take a rest under a thicket.

Frodo sighed and was asleep... Sam struggled with his own weariness, and he took Frodo’s hand;
and there he sat silent till deep night fell. Then at last, to keep himself awake, he crawled
from the hiding-place and looked out... Far above the Ephel Dúath in the West the night-sky
was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high
up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart,
as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold,
the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was
 light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather
than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his
master’s, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo’s
side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.

This moment is comforting.  Sam takes solace in the belief Sauron will never be able to conquer the stars.  Beauty is eternal and can never be fully kept at bay.  Even if all of Middle Earth would be conquered, sunsets will endure.  Caves will glitter and the Sea will wash the shores.  Perhaps there will be music in the industrial rhythm of Mordor's iron-making, or architecture to appreciate in Uruk towers.

It is comforting, but misleading.  There won't be any Free Peoples to appreciate these beauties!  Whatever good beauty is per se, it is necessarily increased by an audience.  Sam's hope doesn't empower him - it literally lulls him to sleep.

Sam's song of defiance in the tower was better than this hopeful comfort.  He should think of himself, for in thinking of himself he necessarily will consider others.  Hope can be quiet and personal.  Defiance must take an active form.  His defiance in Cirith Ungol, though born of dispair (literally a lack of hope), leads him to find and rescue Frodo.

While we should consider the consequences of our actions beyond our lifetimes, we should remain troubled by our own fate and by that of those around us.  Hoping the world will be OK does not make it so - only defiance, or some other motivation for action, can do that.  Hope is not a motivator - it is a comfort.

All of us can think of something in the world which bothers us.  We should not just hope things improve; We must be defiant.  Sleep does not get the job done!

Maybe this appears in this chapter precisely to demonstrate when we are most vulnerable to hope.  Mordor is dull, it is dark, it is dangerous.  It drags.  It is an overbearing experience.  Sam falls into 'untroubled sleep' while under a thicket of thorns.  This is not a wise decision, noble though it may appear!

Fortunately, Frodo and Sam take a more active role after this scene, and their defiance pushes them to act far beyond what they believe their limit is.  The countless times, throughout our whole text, characters act rather than hope gives us an indication of what the text thinks we usually ought to do.  Perhaps if we are stressed to the point of being overwhelmed, our senses dulled by repeated injustice,  clinging to hope and catching some rest is wise.  But it is a tactic to be used sparingly, not a strategy to guide our pursuit of an ethical life.

To right the wrongs of the world, you must defy them.

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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