...And What Happened After.
The Tale of the Great Ring, compiled by Bilbo Baggins from his own observations and the accounts of his friends. What we did in the War of the Ring as seen by the Little People."
"The pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds and mopes; the philosopher sees both sides and shrugs: the optimist doesn't see the clouds- he's walking on them."
-D.O. Glynn
I read that quote a couple days ago and I thought it was very good. It made me start thinking about what it really means to be "optimistic" or "pessimistic." We have all seen those words used and we think that we know what they mean but do we ever stop to think about them? I don't think we do.I think that we just see them as two different personalities but actually, whether or not we are optimistic or pessimistic is entirely our choice.
So do we want to be optimistic or pessimistic?Well, if you have ever been around a pessimist then you have probably realized that, though they may be amusing for a little while, they soon become annoying. Nobody wants to be around a sarcastic, sour or complaining person for very long. They just don't make us feel happy or satisfied. However, if you have ever spent much time with a person who is determined to be happy all the time, then you surely must know that it is enjoyable to be around optimists.
So how do we become optimists?Let me refer here to another nice quote which, I think, can answer our question.
The Optimist and the Pessimist
"Two men look out through the same bars,
One sees the mud and the other sees the stars."
-Langbridge
I think that being an optimist really means being someone who is always looking for the good in situations, people or things. Abraham Lincoln said "If you look for the good in people, you will surely find it."If we are looking for the bright side of things than we will be living in a world of sunshine. The only reason that pessimists find so much to be sad about is that they are looking for sad things! John Lubbock said "What we see, depends mainly on what we look for."
We can do even better than looking only at the bright side of obstacles: we can look beyond them. You can't see the dusky, cold morning around you if you are focusing on the sunrise ahead. If we decide to be optimistic than we will not even need to see the obstacle because we will be looking beyond it and looking beyond it, will take us over it.
In Middle-Earth, the king of Gondor departed from his kingdom, appointing a steward to look after his affairs, and was never seen again. But his subjects still believed that their king would come back. About two thousand years ago, our King, Jesus, left the earth to prepare a place for us in heaven.Now, centuries later, we still believe that he will return and take back His dominions which Satan has stolen.
As long as the king of Gondor was absent, the line of stewards continued to rule in the king's stead but the steward's job only lasted until the rightful king returned. Aragorn was descended directly from the line of kings and he was the rightful ruler. When he came to claim his throne, the currently ruling steward, Denethor, was to give it up to him but Denethor was unwilling to resign his post. Why? Well, the reasons are quite simple. Denethor had broken the rules. He had been looking into the "Palantir" or "seeing stone" which only the king had the right to look into and he had been deceived by the enemy, Sauron. Sauron caused him to give in to despair. So Denethor failed as a steward. He broke the rules and refused to give up his post when the rightful king returned. But Denethor had a son, Faramir who was to become steward in his stead.
Faramir was honest and merciful and Denethor did not understand his gentle son. Faramir tried to win his father's approval but Denethor was still mourning the death of his first son and was unwilling to realize that he loved Faramir. Faramir also was eager to do what he believed to be right, no matter what the costs may be. (Now, remember, I am talking about Faramir in the book. In the movie, Faramir was different) When Denethor committed suicide, Faramir was lying wounded in the Houses of Healing. No one could cure him. Then, Aragorn came and treated him with "athelas" or "kingsfoil." It would be expected that Faramir would be distrustful of Aragorn when he awoke. After all, Aragorn is coming into Gondor during a war and trying to claim the throne. Here is the way that they met.
"Suddenly Faramir stirred, and he opened his eyes, and he looked on Aragorn who bent over him; and a light of knowledge and love was kindled in his eyes, and he spoke softly."My lord, you called me. I come. What does the king command?"
So Faramir succeeded in his task as steward. He lived honestly and mercifully, regardless of what others thought and when the king finally did return, he was ready for him and willingly submitted to his lord.
When Jesus left the earth, He appointed us as stewards to manage His affairs until His return. As stewards, our task is to show His love to others and to be on guard against the enemy all the time. We must decide what type of steward we will be. We can choose to be like Denethor, ruling our lives in our own way and ignoring the warnings that the King gave us before he left, or we can be like Faramir: honest, merciful and ready for the King to return at all times so that we will not be sorry when he does come. Only remember, that on the side of Denethor, the end will be bitter with the taste of despair but on the side of Faramir the joy of life will be ours forever to spend in the presence of our King.
You know what it is like to read some excellent quote or poem that makes your heart soar, to commit it to memory and then find, a few days later that your memory has failed you. Wouldn't it be nice if you had a place to keep all of those inspirational poems, clever quotes and book passages?A place where you could find them easily and enjoy reading them over and over? This is where the "commonplace book" comes in. The commonplace book can be any notebook, (preferably a durable, nice-looking one) where you can write down all of these things you read that are worth remembering. I started mine this year and I have been collecting quotes from everywhere since then. Whenever I read something worth remembering, I jot it down on a scrap of paper and stick it in-between the leaves of my commonplace book. Later, when I have more time, I copy it down neatly. I'm learning calligraphy right now so that my writing will look beautiful as well. Over the past few months, my commonplace book has become very important to me. In fact, just a few weeks ago, our family went on a two-day trip to a friend's house. I spent the whole two days jotting down quotes from a quote book I found there. Everyone thought it was most amusing that I stayed up until eleven at night writing down quotes, but I am the one who carried away the most from that trip and I will never regret having spent all of my time there writing.
The idea of a commonplace book is not new. Did you know that George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Francis Bacon, John Milton, John Locke, George Elliot and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (he wrote Sherlock Holmes) all kept commonplace books as well?
I think that keeping a commonplace book is a very good idea and you will never regret having done it.
Last night, while watching the TwoTowers, I noticed an aspect of the movie which, I believe, is greatly overlooked today: Courageous Death. Death comes to us all, sooner or later and if we are ready for it, then we need not fear it but should meet it in a way that will encourage others and, perhaps, help someone else. At Helm's Deep, when Saruman's ten thousand Uruk-hai are approaching the three hundred men of Rohan, Aragorn tries to tell Theoden that the battle is hopeless. Logically speaking, he is perfectly right and Theoden knows it but look at the response he gives Aragorn:
"What would you have me do? Look at my men. Their courage hangs by a thread. If this is to be our end, then I would have them make such an end as to be worthy of remembrance!"
Theoden is not willfully slaughtering his men as Denethor does later when he commands the charge on Osgiliath. No, Theoden knows quite well that the battle is hopeless and that, no matter what course he takes, his men will all be killed. He knows that there is no solution to the problem but he would rather his men die in a way that may, perhaps, help the future generation or, if they cannot even do that, to die in a way that will be worthy of remembrance even if it is forgotten. This is no suicide mission: this is the last charge of dying "heroes in the strife." These heroes are men who know their end is near but are ready to die for truth, fighting for it to the last, rather then give in to anything else.
This is the way that we must be. We are also fighting a battle. Every day of our lives, we are fighting a battle. Some day, our part in the story will end and we will pass away. I think many people believe that living is what counts and, of course, they are right, but life on this earth only lasts for a short amount of time so we must not only live as brave heroes but die in a way that will be worthy of remembrance.
"It's like in the great stories, Mister Frodo. The ones that really mattered, full of darkness and danger they were. And 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 will 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, Mister Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn't. Because they were holding on to something."
Frodo: "What are we holding onto, Sam?"
Sam: "That there's some good in this world, Mister Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."
This scene is my favorite scene in the Two Towers. I cried when I saw it and when I read it in the book. I think that those lines are some of the best ones in the whole movie. They give you hope every time. The last part, where Sam says that we are holding onto the belief that there is some good in this world and its worth fighting for, is true and yet, I think we are holding onto so much more than that! I would say that we are holding onto something of greater worth than that belief. Promises. Gods promises. He promised us a Savior and a Savior came. He promised that all who believe in Jesus as their Savior will have everlasting life and, best of all, He promised us that He will come back for us and we have that promise to hold onto. When the earth around us falls, we will have that promise to hold onto and we will not fall with it. Thats worth fighting for! So whatever you are doing right now, just take two minutes to think about what that means. We've got something to hold onto!
In this modern world, people often confuse knowledge with wisdom. This is incorrect. Knowledge and wisdom are two very different things. Here are Websters definitions for each:
Knowledge is the acquaintance with facts as from investigation.
Wisdom is the knowledge of what is true and right, coupled with
just judgment as to action.
I have been thinking about this as I learn new things each day in school.I dont want to be proud of my knowledge, but wise.Alfred Lord Tennyson is my favorite poet.He wrote a long poem that I really like. It is called In Memoriam. He wrote it on the death of one of his dear friends. He mourns his friend but at the same time he talks about life and death and the things that we face in life. The poem has 131 verses and is extremely difficult and long but it gives you a lot to think about. This is a verse that I particularly like. I noticed that Tennyson refers to Knowledge as but a little child that wishes to display what he has learned. Wisdom, he speaks of as heavenly, of the soul.
CXXVIII
Who loves not Knowledge? Who shall rail
Against her beauty? May she mix
With men and prosper! Who shall fix
Her pillars? Let her work prevail.
But on her forehead sits a fire:
She sets her forward countenance
And leaps into the future chance,
Submitting all things to desire.
Half-grown as yet, a child and vain-
She cannot fight the fear of death
What is She, cut off from love and faith,
But some wild Pallas from the brain
Of Demons? Fiery hot to burst
All barriers in her onward race
For power. Let her know her place;
She is the second, not the first.
A higher hand must make her mild,
If all be not in vain; and guide
Her footsteps, moving side by side
With Wisdom, like the younger child:
For She is earthly of the mind,
But Wisdom heavenly of soul
O, friend, who camest to thy goal
So early leaving me behind,
I wish the great world grew like thee,
Who grewest not alone in power
And knowledge, but by year and hour
In reverence and in charity.
You may have to read it twice to really understand what it means (I did) but when you do, it makes sense to you and the whole idea all fits together like a puzzle. Let us not live to acquireknowledge, but wisdom, and we shall find both.
Frodo and I and a few of our friends have started a society based upon The Lord Of The Rings . We call ourselves "The Fellowship." We all wear rings that we have put onachain and keep them under our shirts so that no one sees them. We wanted to do this partly for fun and partly as a symbol of the quest that we are all on. We wanted to symbolize that we are all just like Frodo on a quest to the end. A less exciting word for that quest is LIFE. It is more interesting to call it a perilous journey and make-believe that we are characters from the The Lord Of The Rings but I think that it is also interesting to know that there is a good deal of truth to our "game."Maybe you would like to join the quest with us and wear a ring.Just remember:
This is a good line. Good is always good and Evil is always evil. The fact that the world is changing (which it is) does not make Evil right and that which is wrong for one of us to do is not right for another of us to do. It is our part to discern them.
"How shall a man judge what to do in such times?" (said Eomer)
"As he has ever judged," said Aragorn. Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is man's part to discern them." - From The Two Towers
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us..." GANDALF
The purpose of this blog is to record the ideas that are
most important to us. We are two sisters who choose to go by the names of
Frodo and Legolas. You will find poems and quotes,
narrations and pictures from our favorite sources that
have inspired us to use the time that has been given to
us to the best of our ability. We hope you will enjoy
the journey there and back again....
The Birth of Britain
The Brendan Voyage
Beautiful Girlhood
The Lay of the Land
Ivanhoe
Trial and Triumph
Age of Chivalry
Fearfully And Wonderfully Made
How to Read a Book
The Story of Painting
Life of Nicias by Plutarch
The Silmarillion
The Final Quest
A Taste of Chaucer
Joan of Arc by Twain
Idylls of the King
Much Ado about Nothing
A Wrinkle In Time
Life of the Spider
How the Heather Looks
Pursuit of God
Daughter of Time
In Freedom's Cause
Lilith
David Copperfield
Legolas is Reading...
The Silmarillion
Halliburton's Book of Marvels: The Occident
Age of Fable
Life of Nicias by Plutarch
The Story of the Greeks
Augustus Caesar's World
The Sea Around Us
Hittite Warrior
Animal Farm
Magician's Nephew (in Turkish)
Archimedes and the Door of Science
Swiss Family Robinson
What Katy Did
Unfinished Tales
Where the Red Fern Grows
Follow My Leader
Penrod
Story of the Romans
Along Came Galileo
Jack and Jill
Never Give In
Valley of Thorns (in Turkish)
Ben Hur
"The value of the myth is that it
takes all the things we know and
restores to them the rich
significance which has been hidden
by the veil of familiarity . . .
By putting bread, gold, horse, apple
or the very roads into a myth,
we do not retreat from reality:
we rediscover it. As long as the
story lingers in our mind,
the real things are more themselves.
[The Lord of the Rings]
applies the treatment not only
to bread or apple but to good and evil,
to our endless perils, our anguish
and our joys. By dipping them in myth
we see them more clearly. I do not
think [Tolkien] could have done it
in any other way.
- C.S. Lewis
The Music
INTO THE WEST by Yulia
The Movie
LORD OF THE RINGS The Return of the King
'When the seas and mountains fall
And we come to end of days
In the dark I hear a call
Calling me there
I will go there
And back again'
