Friday, May 31, 2013

there is some Good in this world, and it is worth fighting for


Tolkien's Lord of the Rings ... 

Do you remember the scene at the end of The Two Towers, where Frodo was almost slain by a Nazgul, but narrowly escaped due to Sam's rescue? Frodo was exhausted, and Sam reminded him of their small but important place in the over-arching story being played out around them.

Sam:
"It's me! It's your Sam! Don't you know your Sam?"

Frodo:
"I can't do this..."

Sam:
"I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But, we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. Sometimes you didn't want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened?

But in the end it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand 'why?' ...

But I think, Mr Frodo, I do understand. I know now that folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't.  They kept going because they were holding on to something."

Frodo:
"What were they holding on to, Sam?"

Sam:
"That there is some Good in this world, and it is worth fighting for."