Tolkien Quotes: Cast Away a Treasure

“And here also is your brooch, Pippin,” said Aragorn. “I have kept it safe, for it is a very precious thing.”

“I know,” said Pippin. “It was a wrench to let it go; but what else could I do?”

“Nothing else,” answered Aragorn. “One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters. You did rightly.”

Long before this conversation took place, when Pippin and Merry were captured by orcs, Pippin dropped his brooch, a marvelous gift from the Lady Galadriel herself, in the grass to leave a trail for Aragorn to follow. I love that in this exchange, Aragorn acknowledges both the worth of the brooch and the necessity of letting it go.

My family’s recent move has made me think a lot about possessions— they are a lot more important to me than I would like to admit. All I have to do is go through my closet (or, much worse, my book collection) with the intention of rooting out all the excess. “But I love this jacket, and I wear it every month or so!” I say. “I’d like to have my own copy of this book rather than checking it out from the library.” 

I have lived for two months out of a single backpack— few things make you more aware of what is necessary to survive and thrive. Yet when I get home, I tend to cling onto my little comforts, like decorate lights and those little trinkets so-and-so gave me for my eighteenth birthday. I don’t believe it’s wrong to own such things, with one condition: they must be held with open hands, ready to be let go should the need arise. 

Annie Dillard, in her mind-blowing essay “An Expedition to the Pole,”* tells of early groups who attempted to conquer Antarctica, but refused to let go of their possessions: heirlooms, conveniences and nonessentials weighed down their journeys. In the end, these groups either turned back or froze to death. One straggler’s body was discovered in the endless snow, fallen dead in his tracks. In his icebound arms, he clutched a case that the expedition had brought: a set of fine antique silverware. 

Do I own my possessions, or do they own me? This is an important for everyone to ask on a regular basis. Otherwise, we are trapped in chains of our own making.

~Lisa Shafter

*If you have not read “An Expedition to the Pole,” or anything else from Dillard’s Teaching a Stone to Talk, then you have missed out. Go find a copy ASAP.