“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god. But then, he never claimed not to be a god. Circumstances being what they were, neither admission could be of any benefit. Silence, though, could.”
— Roger Zelazny (Lord of Light)
In “A Patriots History of the United States”, as Bill noted, the events leading up to the Civil War do bear a striking resemblance to the politics and battles of today.
There was political corruption at the highest levels in terms of favoring what is today consider evil, negro slavery. Everything in the government seemed to be slanted towards slavery in the Name of mollifying the Southern slave owners…
Speaking of reading literature instead – there is no getting away from this Battle of Good vs. Evil.
In Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, the Good struggles against Evil even though most of them are convinced that Evil is going to win. Nonetheless, they never give in; never give up…
This is what makes Jackson’s treatment of LOTR such a travesty. Unlike JRR’s classic struggles, Jackson applied his twisted sense of Woke and made nearly every character betray themselves or surrender to Evil.
The most blatant example of this Jacksonian nonsense was when Theoden King was asked to help Gondor and he said NO, he would go to Helm’s Deep and fortify himself there.
Of course, Theoden really said YES, I will go to Helm’s Deep and gather our people to fight for Gondor….
The movie is replete with these reversals by every character…
“Lord of Light” is also an interesting parallel to the times we face.
I probably first read that sci-fi novel about 55 years ago and many times since.
I picked it up from the storeroom and read it again last week.
Zelazny writes an Epic sci fi Saga of gods of the Hindu pantheon dominating mankind on their planet because… the gods are The Elite and they have the power to control mankind for their own amusement and profit.
But, all it takes is one man with their same powers to decide he would rather be a Man than be a god.
Trump fit that bill but….
Some days he wouldn’t say
A pleasant word all day
Some days he’d scowl and curse
But there were other days
When he was really even worse
Some men are heroes
Some men outshine the sun
Some men are simple, good men
This man wasn’t one
And I won’t miss his moods
His gloomy solitudes
His blunt abrasive style
But please don’t get me wrong
He was the best to come along
In a long, long while….
Pippin – I Guess I’ll Miss the Man
I can only hope and pray that there is a unifying principled Man of G-d with steel for a spine; the intelligence of a Lincoln; and the wit of our greatest leaders and comedians, waiting in the wings.
Personally, I see no other way out,.