Tyrants will rise, criminals will corrupt, people will fail. It is the age-old story of humanity, but neither is it hopeless. We cannot prevent evil from ever rising again, but we can help ourselves and our communities and our nation. As a British fantasy writer once wisely stated, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Today is the anniversary of the 1892 birth of one of the most influential 20th century authors, J.R.R. Tolkien, famed for his creation of Middle-earth and its many sagas, especially “The Lord of the Rings.” While British professor Tolkien had a worldview somewhat at variance with American principles (for instance an excessive value for royal “blood”), in other ways he created a world that could and does appeal equally to Brits, Americans, and people from many other nations. Despite his preoccupation with royalty, Tolkien did recognize that in each ordinary man is a hero waiting to be awakened, like Samwise Gamgee, the hobbit gardener who ultimately almost single-handedly saves the quest to destroy the One Ring.
Tolkien also recognized that each generation would have to fight evil, and that sometimes the fight seems impossible to win. Witness the passage below, where Frodo the ring bearer speaks to the wizard Gandalf about the threat of the ring’s maker Sauron and the forces of evil:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and 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 us.”
Frodo was already beginning to be middle-aged, enjoying a comfortable and prosperous life in the Shire, when he discovered that the ring he had inherited was a powerful weapon for evil and that he would have to take it to be destroyed in the heart of Sauron’s Mordor itself. He had no training as a warrior, no experience outside the Shire. Yet Frodo accepted the impossible task, and with the aid of his friends — most particularly of Sam Gamgee — he ultimately did succeed in destroying the ring. Catholic Tolkien wrote “Lord of the Rings” as both fantasy and allegory (thus Gandalf as a Christ figure, Galadriel as a Marian figure, the ring representing sin and being destroyed on the traditional date of Christ’s crucifixion), but he also hoped to inspire a generation of Christian warriors to preserve Western Civilization.
Related: Jane Austen’s Timeless Wisdom on the Vital Worth of Personal Responsibility
Tolkien survived the horror of World War I, but most of his friends didn’t. The devastation of war and the destruction wrought by power-hungry leaders are themes through all of his works. But Tolkien was not hopeless. He knew that every Sam and Frodo and Bilbo and Merry and Pippin of us could destroy the ring if we would only believe we could. In fact, the character of Sam was based on Tolkien’s batmen (aides) during the war.
Everywhere we turn, it seems as if we see more violence and injustice and catastrophes. The crime wave in America, foreign wars, global Jihad, Marxist hate campaigns, persecution of Jews and Christians, political persecution, weaponized lawfare, mass killings… the list goes on. Just over Christmas and New Year’s there were multiple deadly attacks. On the other hand, the 2024 election was a hopeful victory for America and the world, and we can at least look forward to reforms within the United States.
That said, the 2024 election victory happened only because some people refused to give up even when the political outlook seemed darkest. Donald Trump, Scott Presler, Richard Baris, Kash Patel, Mike Lindell, and some of us right here at PJ Media are among those who kept the faith, even when Democrats seemed exceptionally confident in their supposedly inevitable victory. Millions of Americans rejected the years of media propaganda, the government lies, and the negative political/economic climate under Biden to vote for liberty and reform.Read Also: Happy Birthday to U.S.: Moylan Names the United States, Jan. 2, 1776
Like Donald Trump after he was shot in July, like the Founding Fathers taking on the British Empire, like Sam Gamgee facing the giant spider, like the Fellowship of the Ring setting out to destroy the Dark Lord, we rose up bruised or bloodied but defiant. The Red Lords in their Swamp with their hammer and sickle felt the foundations shake and crack beneath them and saw their rainbow flag falter as the people they had despised took the power out of their hands. The hobbits were victorious.Now we face a new battle, to strengthen and reform and restore this great nation of ours. The return of the king was the end of one saga in Middle Earth, but the beginning of another age. So it is with us and the return of the president. Like Trump himself, we will sometimes fail and sometimes fall, but we will get up again and fight harder than ever. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
