August 26th, 2011 (Written today, not reposted)
“I have never been out of my own land before. And if I had known what the world outside was like, I don’t think I should have had the heart to leave it.”
I grew up very much like a hobbit, in a comfortable family with comfortable surroundings and comfortable morals bordering my life like rows of buttercups. My parents always likened my siblings’ and my childhood to a greenhouse for saplings— we had to grow as strong as we could in a safe environment before braving the winds of the outside world. Skeptics could argue it made me naïve, but I think that instead it made me strong, because, just like a hobbit, my roots run deep.
What strikes me most about this quote, beyond Meriadoc’s poetic way of saying, “The world is a big scary place,” is the idea that we never know what courage lies within until we are tested. If Merry had known the dangers that awaited him outside the Shire, he might not have gotten past the Old Forest. Yet every time things get dark, courage is waiting to carry him through, rooted in his love of his friends and the stalwartness of his people.
Lately I’ve been worrying about the future, tracing out decisions to absurd lengths: “What if this happens, and then this, and then this, and I’m stuck with this for the rest of my life? What about that variable and that possibility and that danger?” This quote is an observation that if we really knew what was up ahead, we’d never be able to move forward with life. It’s another reminder to acknowledge the future, but to live in the present.
~Lisa Shafter
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