"Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? It'll be spring soon. And the orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. And they'll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields... and eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?"
-J.R.R. Tolkien
It is cold, it is rainy, and for the last week and a half I have done little but study. It is incredible how human beings get in ruts. Have you ever gotten in your car, made a phone call the whole drive, and arrive at your destination not remembering anything you passed? The weeks leading up to the holidays are like that in college. All the days blend together; one afternoon turns into the next morning. Then, one morning, it ends, and you don't seem to know how you got there.
I think I know how we get there.
"There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place." -G.K. Chesterton
During exams, I have sporadically watched the Lord of the Rings movies to maintain my sanity. To remind myself that what I am doing is not that important...or maybe that it makes all the difference in the world. I remember someone telling me (the Bible probably told him...) that we grow in the small things-- the decision not to complain, the extra hour of studying, perhaps actually being engaged in a conversation. As a type-A, Wake Forest college student, sometimes I feel like I have to change the world. 4.0, honor roll, destroy the ring. But what strikes me about the Lord of the Rings--about Frodo and Sam--is the small things that slowly get them up the mountain. Until we realize that the journey is long, and also that we will get there, we will miss the small things.
If you get on youtube, you can watch countless videos where people have taken clips of Frodo and Sam and turned them into male lovers. It's repulsive, and it's sad. Instead of experiencing real, intimate friendship, people watch these things and laugh, because they would rather sit in their offices taking breaks to check their fantasy football leagues and laugh at videos that will not outlast this world.
"I'm glad to be with you, Sam...here at the end of all things."
Friendship is a small thing.
When we get focused on a deadline, the world ends at that point. Everything, literally everything, leads up to and is centered around the deadline. Any thought of what's on the other side, well, that can't even be comprehended. It's a shameful thought. Lazy. "Don't think about the other side, Jordan. If you do, you'll never finish the race." If I don't think about the other side I'll never even start.
"Remember the shire."
Perspective is a small thing.
In the first LOTR, representatives of every race of Middle Earth meet in Rivendell to decide the fate of the ring. The dwarf argues with the elf, the men can't put aside their differences, and the small, insignificant Frodo Baggins looks into the ring, the symbol of all that is evil and perilous in his world, and decides that he will bear it. At first, no one even pays attention. At the end of the trilogy, the race of men will bow down to him.
"4 Hobbits?"
Hobbits are small things.
Amongst the fire and ash of Mount Doom, Sam-- that beautiful, fat, redemptive hobbit that has helped carry the burden of Middle Earth--cannot stop thinking about the Shire. Strawberries, the hazel thicket, springtime, Rosie Cotton--the hobbit he would like to marry if he ever gets back. In fact, these hopes--small as they are-- are the only thing that keeps him going up the mountainside.
"Do you remember the taste of strawberries?"
Hope can be a small thing.
Before Frodo's journey ever begins, the ring stays in the Shire for over 60 years, out of the attention and sight of evil. No one would ever expect such power to be in such a small place. 3000 years after Sauron creates the ring, it will soon fall into the cracks of the earth and Frodo will say, "It is done, Sam."
"We are lucky the Shire has been overlooked."
Hobbiton was a small place. So was Nazareth.
The next time I think there is no horizon beyond my next deadline, I hope to remember these small things. My work is in some way the most important thing in the world, for through it, I will grow. But in other ways it is just another step in the journey. What is certain is that I will get there.
Sam married Rosie Cotton.
