Walking home from the bus stop yesterday, I noticed the lovely pairing of Venus and Jupiter close together in the evening sky, and I was almost immediately reminded of my favorite Lord of the Rings quote, which struck me as quite relevant and applicable to the situation on the Gulf coast right now. The premise is this: Frodo and Sam are trudging through the benighted land of Mordor, surrounded by nothing but misery and despair. All seems hopeless, even moreso than it does in New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast right now; the hobbits have every reason to believe that not only their little corner of the world, but the entire world as a whole, is about to come to an utterly evil end. And then…
The land seemed full of creaking and cracking and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or of foot. Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was a light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master’s, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo’s side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.
In the end, the Shadow is only a small and passing thing: there is a light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. Words to live by, when all else seems lost.
|
Categories: Hurricane Katrina, Lord of the Rings
|
September 1st, 2005 at 5:20:20 am
Funny . . . I keep thinking of the Ents letting in the river to fill Isengard. Here’s hoping peace and beautiful trees will come to fill that place in Louisiana, too.
September 1st, 2005 at 5:39:09 am
Brendan, I saw the same thing here in Hawaii the other day but could not capture it with my camera. Wonderful photo. Wonderful post. Here in Hawaii we would call it “chicken skin!”
In the Psalms we read something similar: “I lift up my eyes to the hills; but where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens!”
Thank you for your link with Tolkein. Something beautiful in the midst of death and destruction. The same planets were shining over New Orleans earlier this evening. Hmmmmm.
September 1st, 2005 at 5:40:16 am
Oh, I meant to add that, with an appropriate link to your site, I am copying your entire post and putting it on my site.
Is this the same as looting? Just wondering….
September 1st, 2005 at 5:46:18 am
Loot away. :)
The same planets were shining over New Orleans earlier this evening. Hmmmmm.
Indeed… I thought about referencing the song “Somewhere Out There” from the cartoon movie An American Tail, but I felt it would detract from the seriousness of the post. However…
Somewhere out there
Beneath the pale moonlight
Someone?s thinking of me
And loving me tonight
Somewhere out there
Someone?s saying a prayer
That we?ll find one another
In that big somewhere out there
And even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing
On the same bright star
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we?re sleeping
Underneath the same big sky
It’s crucial to remember, of course, that in the movie, this song is being sung by talking mice. ;)
Tomorrow night is actually the closest approach of Jupiter and Venus, so if I can capture another picture, perhaps I’ll do another post, referencing the mice this time. :)
September 1st, 2005 at 7:33:48 am
I don’t know where else to post this, but when are we going to see some hollywood stars and bigwigs come forward and pony up? does human suffering and tragedy have to occur OUTSIDE of the United States for them to care? Britney Spears is from right near there, and I know there’s some other LA natives with serious bank who could be spearheading a charity effort…so far I haven’t heard a peep. That’s sad.
September 1st, 2005 at 7:46:01 am
To take the Tolkien geekism to a new level…
Throughout this developing tragedy, I keep thinking to myself, where is Ulmo when we need him??
September 1st, 2005 at 8:40:45 am
Paige,
Two points:
1.) Stop preoccupying yourself with Hollywood. They don’t care about you, many of them are shallow, and they are truly of no consequence.
2.) Perhaps you should give them more than 36 hours to act. The New Orleans angle didn’t become catastrophic until Tuesday, when the 2nd levee broke. Honestly, when have our citizens failed to support each other? Jingoism has no place here.
September 1st, 2005 at 8:46:43 am
Loy,
Remember when I said “insufferable”? Change that to damn endearing. Cheers, mate.
September 1st, 2005 at 9:20:41 am
According to the Dallas paper, NBC, BET, MTV, Morgan Freeman, and the Dave Matthews band have already put together benefit performances, etc. for the Hurricane. But who really cares? The only reason for celebrities to give more help is that they draw attention to a cause that is otherwise undernoticed. I don’t think Katrina would qualify.
September 1st, 2005 at 9:41:37 am
How you’ve done all this great reporting from South Bend beats this ‘70 undergrad and ‘80L alum.
If you can, please give my regards to Professor Rodes!
September 1st, 2005 at 11:52:27 am
Brendan
A very timely and inspired
reminder with the reference from
the Lord of the Rings, indeed it
was much written in the darkest
days of World War II, and that was
a time of great heroism and resolve
to combat and defeat the forces of
fear and oppression, here in NO we
see that the shadow lives among
us in the form of fear and anger,
but we can see also selfless
acts by many for many, I saw a remarkable blog by a group of doctors
who were stranded at the Ritz Carlton
and who set up an impromptu hospital to help those they could. So many doing so much good. I will pray that the few selfish and angry individuals who are risking rescue for all will be stopped in whatever way is needed.
September 1st, 2005 at 5:01:14 pm
Thanks Leahy :)
March 22nd, 2006 at 12:08:06 pm
I know you posted this ages ago but I just stumbled across it.
I was looking for the passage to send to a (deluded) friend who said nasty things about LOTR and people who read it.
I wanted to re-educate her and I thought “What better quote than that?” because it’s (probably, maybe) my favourite in the whole thing.
So there you go, guess I just wanted to show a bit of solidarity…one aficionado to another…or something…all the best buddy!