The Hoppit.

I went to watch The Hobbit the other night. It was a fun film and no mistake, and I am looking forward to part two and seeing more of Smaug the Magnificent! (Although I do get why some of the purists didn't like it, but hey, it is a story for children okay?)

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It got me thinking though (as most things are prone to do) about my own life and situation, and I saw some very clear parallels between me and Bilbo Baggins.

A bumbling fool on an adventure that apparently chose him, not the other way round; and while being alone, frightened and helpless in a very dark place, with monsters on every side, this little person of no consequence to the bigger picture found something powerful and magical. Of course he (like myself) had very little understanding of just what is was he had stumbled upon. However, he used it, it gave him a measure of genuine power, it changed him, and it almost consumed him. It certainly left him older than his natural years and as he put it himself “...I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter that has been scraped over too much bread...”

But then I started to think on the outcome of all this. What happened in the bigger picture?

Bilbo clearly had the love and support of bigger and wiser folk (Gandalf and the Elves for instance), and with this guiding influence, decided to leave the Ring behind to his heir, to the next generation of Shire Folk. As a result of this the matter of the One Ring became known to the Great and Good in Middle Earth. A decision was made during the Council of the Wise.

That “next generation” (Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin) were all much more special, or intelligent, or courageous than Bilbo, even the one's who didn't know it of themselves! As a result of all of this they went on, each in their own special way, to make great changes to Middle Earth and to finally defeat the Dark Lord Sauron!

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Well, I don't know what the future is going to hold, but it was me that got myself into this mess and it is, I feel, to some extent at least down to me to try to clear this mess up. However, like Bilbo I am old now, before my natural time. I am not all that special (except to a few people), I am not all that clever. I understand very little really. And yes, I do feel stretched thin, “like butter that's been scraped over too much bread”! However, I have found something magical and powerful, and I did stumble on it whilst on an adventure, that I suspect was not entirely of my choosing, and in a very dark and frightening place, surrounded by bigger, scarier, and more violent creatures than I.

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So what will I do with this powerful and magical thing I have found?

Well, my hope is that I will get some guidance from the Councils of the Wise, and therefore be enabled to pass it on to our future generations of little people.

Maybe, just maybe, they can then go on to overcome the evils in this world and show everybody and everything just how special, courageous and resilient to corrupting influences they really are.

Love Courage and Strength to you all,

A