The Lord of the Rings, for me has been the pinnacle of the hero’s journey movies (post Star Wars). There’s much of value in the good triumphs over evil theme. That’s a softball though, we all know I never go for the obvious. The moment I pull from this flick is when the little Hobbit Frodo, turns to Gandalf on the verge of succumbing to doubt and fear and he says “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” and Gandalf turns to him and says,
“So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
What to do with the time that is given to us. You don’t have to believe in a higher power to really digest that, every day you wake up and the choice is yours, what are you going to do with yourself? There is always, of course, the mundane: eat, sleep, drink, work, take care of those little people who mess up the house… but what’s after that? What shall we do with the time that’s given to us?
There’s an infinite number of answers, both selfish and selfless. They key to it though is hidden in the subtext, whatever we’re facing, and people around this planet face many TRUE hardships, instead of focusing on the wish that it never happened focusing on what to do now.
I’ve been in a bit of a self induced funk lately and this spins my head, from the bellyaching to the necessary next thing. There will always be a next thing.
So I leave you with the question what will you do with the time you have been given?