Lord of the Rings

 

Into the West

Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see
All of your fears will pass away
Safe in my arms
You're only sleeping!

But you can dream while you are sleeping.

I will admit to being a Lord of the Rings, LOTR, nerd.  One of the consequences of the COVID pandemic is that I have not able to get to the local public library and checkout out the LOTR trilogy for a read.  Before I went all Marie Kondo, and threw them out, I had a had a well-worn box set of the three books that I would reread often.

My three favorite characters in the LOTR are Samwise Gamgee, Treebeard, and the shield maiden Eowyn.  Upon reflection, I realize that these characters embody the three attributes that I have proposed as being important for understanding Human Behavior.        
 https://dbeagan.blogspot.com/2021/05/framework-for-human-behavior-ii.html

Eowyn is, doh, a shieldmaiden, and is thus NOT supposed to go into battle.  However she disguises herself, rides into battle with the men of Rohan, and it is she (and the likewise insignificant Hobbit Merry), who kills the Witch-King of Angmar and avenges King Théoden of Rohan, because she is a woman and NOT a Man.  Talk about never Excluding anyone!

Treebeard, Fangorn, is much to the Hobbits’ dismay, the opposite of hasty. He wants to discover the Truth after careful deliberation and debate.  But once he knows the Truth, watch out!

Samwise Gamgee, the loyal companion of Frodo, takes on the burden of carrying the Ring when he thinks Frodo has been killed, but surrenders the Ring when he discovers, much to his relief, that Frodo is alive.  Sam is the ultimate System Optimalist, who thinks of the group and NOT himself.  “It must be often so, when things are in danger, someone has to give them up,  lose them, so that others may keep them”.

Those who believed in excluding others; who did NOT believe in the Truth; and were User Optimalists who thought of themselves and NOT the group; were primarily defeated in the US general election on November 8^th.  I would like to think that the majority of voters, even those who are not LOTR fans, agreed with Tolkien.  I wish them good dreams.