Quote of the Day: The Times We Live In

 

“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.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

My favorite book series of all time is the Lord of the Rings. When I was young, I did not realize the power of these works. As an adult, I can see the Christian element that flows through these books. What is amazing is that this passage is written by a man who watched his friends die in WWI.

I would dearly like it if we lived in a time like the optimism and energy of the late ’80s and ’90s. I wish that my children were not entering the world as it is. But that is not for me to decide. All I can do is decide what I am going to do with the times I live in. Like a fish in a pond, there is no way for me to move to a different pond; I must swim where I am. Every moment I spend wishing things were different is a moment I am not engaging with life. This is not to say wishing things were different is wrong. I mean, if it is OK for Gandalf, it must be OK for me. However, Gandalf does not dwell on it, he lets the feeling go and decides what he will do.

I am not a subscriber to the faith that all things were “meant to happen” but I firmly believe that we are able to choose how we respond to events, and we get to choose what we will do with them. The times today are strange and not what we have wanted. How will we respond?

It is not quoted perfectly in the movie, but it is powerful to see:

This has been part of the Quote of the Day Series.

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  1. The Scarecrow Thatcher
    The Scarecrow
    @TheScarecrow

    Practically my favorite scene in the movie, and in the book. In the book it happens much earlier, when Gandalf is telling Frodo the score before he sets out from Hobbiton. Still powerful, but I love the way Jackson did it in the movie.

    Incidentally, today I happen to be re-listening to FoTR, and very likely heard that part right when you were posting this. Coincidence? – I think not! It’s your birthday after all – you should get to have some influence over The Flow.

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  2. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    The Scarecrow (View Comment):

    Practically my favorite scene in the movie, and in the book. In the book it happens much earlier, when Gandalf is telling Frodo the score before he sets out from Hobbiton. Still powerful, but I love the way Jackson did it in the movie.

    Incidentally, today I happen to be re-listening to FoTR, and very likely heard that part right when you were posting this. Coincidence? – I think not! It’s your birthday after all – you should get to have some influence over The Flow.

    Thank you. Good Point!

     

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  3. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Bryan G. Stephens: It is not quoted perfectly in the movie, but it is powerful to see:

    The prequel movies were deeply flawed, but they had great things in them. One was another great Gandalf line, about the difference between his and Saruman’s ways of seeing the world.

    https://justabitfurther.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/thoughts-from-the-wilderness-small-things-2/amp/

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  4. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Small acts of kindness and love. Very Christian. 

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  5. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Bryan G. Stephens:

    I am not a subscriber to the faith that all things were “meant to happen” but I firmly believe that we are able to choose how we respond to events, and we get to choose what we will do with them. The times today are strange and not what we have wanted. How will we respond?

    “[M]eant to happen” always sounds better to the speaker than to the person to whom the thing happened. 

     

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  6. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Bryan G. Stephens: I would dearly like it if we lived in a time like the optimism and energy of the late ’80s and ’90s. I wish that my children were not entering the world as it is.

    Very good post, Bryan.  But there were plenty of pessimists at the time telling us that we were living in the worst of times.  Ronald Reagan was going to get us in a nuclear war with the USSR and the globe would be a wasteland. Or it wouldn’t go that far, but the Communists would win World War 3 and the US would be a shambles.  The rich were making too much money, and whenever the rich get richer of course that means the poor get poorer.  People have been harping about environmental destruction since I was a kid.  I remember seeing people  at the time (not scientists, just commentators) predicting that half the population would have AIDS by the end of the century.

    Now matter what era a person is living in, if you want to believe it is the best of times, you can cherry-pick evidence to support your assertion.  Same goes for the worst of times, and as Rush Limbaugh sometimes pointed out, in every era you have a lot of people thinking that we are in the end times.

    Thanks to capitalism, your kids are entering a world with far less poverty than the one you were born into, Bryan.  One with cleaner water and cleaner air.  I know people will come up with a laundry list of reasons why things are terrible and getting worse, but it is not all doom and gloom.

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  7. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens: I would dearly like it if we lived in a time like the optimism and energy of the late ’80s and ’90s. I wish that my children were not entering the world as it is.

    Very good post, Bryan. But there were plenty of pessimists at the time telling us that we were living in the worst of times. Ronald Reagan was going to get us in a nuclear war with the USSR and the globe would be a wasteland. Or it wouldn’t go that far, but the Communists would win World War 3 and the US would be a shambles. The rich were making too much money, and whenever the rich get richer of course that means the poor get poorer. People have been harping about environmental destruction since I was a kid. I remember seeing people at the time (not scientists, just commentators) predicting that half the population would have AIDS by the end of the century.

    Now matter what era a person is living in, if you want to believe it is the best of times, you can cherry-pick evidence to support your assertion. Same goes for the worst of times, and as Rush Limbaugh sometimes pointed out, in every era you have a lot of people thinking that we are in the end times.

    Thanks to capitalism, your kids are entering a world with far less poverty than the one you were born into, Bryan. One with cleaner water and cleaner air. I know people will come up with a laundry list of reasons why things are terrible and getting worse, but it is not all doom and gloom.

    It is far harder to come of age now than it was for me.

    • #7
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