In a World of Trouble



Margaret Manning
posted February 1, 2011

In one of the climactic scenes of The Lord of the Rings, the young hobbit Frodo laments the world he sees around him with all the tragedy and darkness that has befallen him. Looking at the difficulty in continuing on the path laid out before him, Frodo mourns, "I wish it need not have happened in my time." Gandalf the Grey, ever his wise mentor, consoles him with these words: "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. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought."

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. I have often thought of this scene and these words as I look out onto our world. There are always crises of one sort or another that might make even the strongest among us pine for different times, crises that make us wish our journey would be a different and far more pleasant trip. The recent shootings in Arizona give us one such contemporary example. The randomness of violence upends any sense of security in a world that is far beyond our control. And this is simply one example of what seems to be an increasingly violent world. We long for peace and stability. But such is not the time that is given to us.

Given the instability of the world and the fear that instability engenders, how does one make the best of times like these? For many, flights of fantasy, wishful thinking, or simply burying their head in the sand offers a strategy for coping. Yet, even the desire to escape—through pleasure, distraction, or nostalgia—belies a longing for something more, something different, and something better. These longings speak to us of what should be and can motivate action for good here and now with the time that is given to us. As Gandalf rightly counseled, "[T]here are other forces at work in this world... beside the will of evil." the rest image