I have been reading Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and I just love them. I love the story, and the friendships. I love the journey, and the characters. But most of all I have been blown away by the history. Tolkien created a world with a history richer than our own. There is a complete history surrounding every race of people, and whether simple or profound, these histories draw me in and make me keep reading.
The histories of most of these peoples is passed down through song, or poetry, and not actually written down. A true account is hard to find, so most history, given enough generations turns into legend. Then there becomes this blur between what is true and what is myth; there become hostilities between different peoples over grudges held based on legends and myths; there are certain areas (mines or forests) that people fear to enter because of these legends. However, there are a few creates that still exist in this world that Tolkien created who sing these songs, and recite this poetry, who actually were around when it happened.
Whether these creates are wizards, ents, or elves, they have a completely different perspective on the present happenings, when put in light with the lives that they have lived. Men see an evil rise, and want to attack it and smother it instantly. But the elves sit for a time and talk, and the ents may not even think twice about it. The wizards are a very different breed all together, and remain somewhat of a question mark to me.
I think that there is profound wisdom in Tolkien's creation of these different peoples. I think that he either already possessed this wisdom, or perhaps he gained it while writing these books, but either way he had it at some point. If you look at the world, and at different groups of people, you begin to grasp the wisdom of Tolkien, but you cannot fully understand it until you consider the idea of peoples like the elves or ents, who are immortal.
See, young people are hasty. Their immediate needs seem to be the only thing that matters, and the only thing that ever has or will matter. This could be good in certain moments, but more often then not, I think this is foolish. Young people get wrapped up in their immediate needs (which is a good way of saying desires), and fail to see long term consequences. Only after they have dug a hole do they realize they are standing in it. Of course, there is a rare moment when you dig a hole, realize you are standing in it, then realize that there is gold in that hole.
Then there are the old and the wise. Older people tend to scorn those who are hasty, and spend plenty of time making up their mind. This often leads to prosperity, and usually is wise. However, the wise may seem to be foolish or stuck in their ways. They often do not act, and just sit around and talk. And to those hasty young people, they are infuriating in their inaction. Of course, the wise are often infuriated by the young in their foolishness.
I often looked at the old and wise, and frowned at their inaction, but when I read of the ents and the elves, I understood a little bit. The ents and elves, these immortal creatures often stay free of the happenings of men. I did not understand this when I watched the movies. It seemed to me that the power of these peoples could easily have matched the power of Sauron (the evil Lord), but the ents and elves both kept their distance; the elves providing counsel while the ents would have done nothing if not for the help of some hobbits.
The point of this blog is this: the happenings of the world have been happening since time began. There is likely nothing different about this trial than the last. The hasty young people would have you believe that this moment is the most important. That this is different and that something must be done. But the wise would reflect and see that this is, in fact most similar to what has always been going on.
Perhaps if we all spent more time conversing with trees.
