Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
This is a continuation of the infamous thread New Zealander Builds Hobbit Hole originally posted on January 26, 2001 by John Farson, who at the time undoubtedly thought he had found a rather obscure article that would elicit a few replies and die out. Without knowing it, he became the founder of the Hobbit Hole. For reasons incomprehensible to some, the thread grew to over 4100 replies. It became the place for hobbits and friends of hobbits to chit chat and share LoTR news and views, hang out, and talk amongst ourselves in the comfort of familiar surroundings.
In keeping with the new posting guidelines, the thread idea is continuing here, as will the Green Dragon Inn, our more structured spin-off thread, as soon as we figure out how to move all the good discussion that has been had there. As for the Hobbit Hole, we will just start fresh, bringing only a few mathoms such as the picture above with us to make it feel like home, and perhaps a walk down memory lane:
Our discussion has been light:
It very well may be that a thread named "New Zealander builds Hobbit hole" will end up being the longest Tolkien thread of them all, with some of the best heartfelt content... Sorry John, but I would have rather it had been one with a more distinguished title!… post 252 - HairOfTheDog
However, I can still celebrate, with quiet dignity, the fact that what started as a laugh about some wacko in New Zealand has mutated and grown into a multifaceted discussion of the art, literature, and philosophy that is Tolkien. And now that I've managed to write the most pompous sentence of my entire life, I agree, Rosie… post 506 - JenB
Hah! I was number 1000!! (Elvish victory dance... wait, no; that would be too flitty) … post 1001 - BibChr
Real men don't have to be afraid of being flitty! Go for it. – post 1011 – HairOfTheDog
Seventeen years to research one mystical object seems a bit excessive… post 1007 - JenB
Okay...who's the wise guy who didn't renew Gandalf's research grant?… post 1024 – Overtaxed
To the very philosophical:
…Judas Iscariot obviously was a good man, or he wouldn't have been chosen to be one of the Apostles. He loved Jesus, like all of the Apostles, but he betrayed him. Yet without his betrayal, the Passion and Crucifixion would never have occurred, and mankind would not have been redeemed. So without his self-destruction infinite good would not have been accomplished. I certainly do not mean this to be irreverant but it seems to me that this describes the character of Gollum, in the scenes so movingly portrayed above… Lucius Cornelius Sulla
To fun but heartfelt debates about the integrity and worth of some of the characters…
…Anyone else notice how Boromir treats the hobbits? He's very fond of them but he seems to think of them as children - ruffling Frodo's hair, calls them all 'little ones'. He likes them, but I don't think he really respects them… post 1536 - JenB
Yes... Tolkien told us not to trust Boromir right off the bat when he began to laugh at Bilbo, until he realized that the Council obviously held this hobbit in high esteem. What a pompous dolt… post 1538 - HairOfTheDog
…I think almost every fault of his can be traced directly back to his blindness to anything spiritual or unseen. He considers the halflings as children, because that is what they look like. He considers the only hope of the ring to be in taking it and using it for a victory in the physical realm. He cannot see what the hobbits are truly made of, he cannot see the unseen hope of what the destruction of the ring might mean--the destruction of Sauron himself, and he cannot see the unseen danger that lies in the use of the ring itself… I just feel sorry for Boromir--he is like a blind but honorable man, trying to take the right path on the road but missing the right path entirely because he simply cannot see it… post 1548 - Penny1
Boromir isn't a jerk, he's a jock… post 2401 – Overtaxed
-----------------------------------------
Oh, I think by the time Frodo reaches the Cracks, he's not even himself anymore! I think he's not only on the brink of a dangerous place physically, he's on the brink of losing himself completely during the exchange with Gollum. But for some reason, the take-over isn't complete till he actually has to throw the Ring in. The person speaking to Gollum is not Frodo, but the "Wheel of Fire" that Sam sees. After the Ring is destroyed, Frodo not only comes back to himself, but comes back with the unbearable (to him) knowledge of what it's like to be completely without compassion. I think that's why it's so important to him to be compassionate in the Shire… post 2506 - 2Jedismom
…Regarding Frodo's compassion... it's a little too much at the end. Even Merry tells him that he's going to have to quit being so darn nice. But you're right. He's learned a lesson about evil that very few ever learn since it wasn't an external lesson but an internal one. (Those kinds of lessons have the greatest impact) Not only did he totally succumb to it, but he was rather ruthless to my little Smeagol… post 2516 - carton253
Well that Frodo was a big mean bully! (to Smeagol)… post 2519 – Overtaxed
So as you can see, everything JRR Tolkien (and Peter Jackson) is welcome here in our New Row, our soon-to-be familiar New Hobbit Hole…; philosophy, opinion, good talk and frequent silliness.
That works too!
I haven't watched or listened to any coverage since I got to work. Seeing it on TV this morning before leaving for work, and listening to the radio while driving in, brought it all too close to the surface. Work gave me an excuse to get away from it for a while.
It is a gorgeous, cool, blue fall day. Exactly as gorgeous, and slightly cooler, than it was a year ago today.
I don't think I'll ever forget that day. I hope I won't, because forgetting would be wrong. I remember sitting in front of a computer in the lab, paralyzed, not by fear but by shock. I had no personal feeling of danger, and I knew most of the people I cared about were out of harm's way. I sat there, watching the headlines and pictures - I couldn't get to most of the articles because all the news servers were clogged - and wondering what was going to happen next. The hallways were filled with people; even the library had dug out an old antenna and tv set and had the news in black and white. I remember the faces of people standing there, books in their hands and bags forgotten. I remember the anger and fear in their eyes.
Later came the feeling of helplessness, as thousands of people died, some not fifty miles from where I sat, and there was literally nothing I could do to help. It felt wrong to leave the television screen, wrong to try to carry on as if nothing was wrong. Math class was almost a total wash. The professor lectured for over an hour before he gave up; I don't even remember what he said. I remember one of my classmates talking about how frantically she'd tried to get her parents - they lived a mile from the crash site in Shanksville. Another, who's parents lived in New York, told us how they had worried about her - hearing that a plane had gone down "somewhere in southwestern Pennsylvania, somewhere east of Pittsburgh" - a location that fitted us fairly perfectly.
I remember gathering on the lawn, RAs handing out candles that they'd made a special trip for, and me thinking how odd it was that this was the first year of the "no candles in dorm room" policy. The prayers, offered by any and all, for peace, for healing, for the safety of loved ones. I remember praying for justice, and then querying myself to make sure I hadn't meant 'revenge'.
Then, as the days went by, I saw more and more people drift into a combination of sorrow and conciliatory spirits. I didn't understand that; I was still mad. I wanted justice. I wanted those responsible to be found and locked up - or killed. Not for vengeance. That would have been elevating them to a status of human and in my mind, they lost that the moment the first airline was taken over. I did not hate them, but they were, I felt, dangerous, and we had to make sure they could never hurt anyone again.
Even at my school we felt the surge of patriotism. I wore red shirts with my blue jeans for weeks, wore out my flag shirt, cut a paper flag from the newspaper and hung it in my window. It wasn't jingoism. For the first time in my life I had truly considered what it was to be an American and I was proud. The heroism of the firefighters, police, ordinary citizens convinced me that we were not really any different from the men who fought at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill. People are still heroes inside, waiting for the need. It takes something terrible to bring it out...
And that was what was really important about September the Eleventh. Everyone who died, everyone who lived, has a story. The people who wouldn't leave without their disabled co-workers. The firefighters who ran into the towers and not out. Todd Beamer and the Flight 93 heroes. There are so many individual stories, everyone can find one that they identify with particularly. Examples of heroism, nobility, and valor; examples of cowardice and even criminal behavior. The people who risk their lives, who spend days without sleeping looking for survivors rub shoulders with the people who steal money and drinks from evacuated bars.
So, a year later, I'm still angry. I still want justice, and I happen to think that the way we've been going about getting it is right. The world is not really any safer than it was on 9/11/01, but it's no more dangerous than it was on 9/10/01. We're just looking at things differently now,
And yeah. I'm still proud to be an American.
Rememberance events around the world, tokens of support from places you may not expect. Its nice.
So...you want to hear my 9/11 story? Okay...
I was at the dentist getting fitted for a crown. They had the radio on in the background. So I drive back to work and everyone is listening to the radio. No one was crying. They were just shocked and getting angry. They sent everyone home.
So at home I'm Freeping and watching Fox when I get an IM from my sister in DC. She lives across the Potomac from the Pentagon. Everyone was okay (well I didn't really think any of them would be at the Pentagon). The base was on lockdown and BIL needed the phone line.
And that was pretty much it.
All:Just wanted to comment. The documentary was showing when Prez Bush learned about the second plane. He was with a class of elementary students. They said he had already heard about the first plane, but noone knew what the cause was. Then you see a man come over and whisper something in his ear. He was telling Bush about the second plane. I was amazed at his composure. He just started chewing his lip and his eyes said it all. There was such pain in his eyes at the news, and yet he continued with what he was doing so that the children wouldn't know right away. He is such an amazing man.
That is what I am doing. I am going out for a steak at the tavern.
My most self-involved friend, who never watches the news, wants to go out for dinner. She wants me to help her decide which promotion to take in her job, and complain about her dad deciding to paint her house, and choosing the colors without asking her. She asked me what I did today, and I said, "well, I watched the news all day and had a lot of tears well up seeing all those images again." She said... "Tears? What happened today? I haven't watched the news..."
Remember the part about the Rangers in LoTR, long guarding the innocent folk of the Shire, who go about their daily lives, completely heedless of the outside world. And the Rangers didn't mind. They were relentlessly guarding the heedless from ever having know all the evils of the world.
My friend is America's Shire.
See you all later! 
I usually do. :)
Your friend sounds a bit like a couple who were our best friends, before they moved away. They weren't quite as out of touch with the news, but we were so much more in touch that they seemed woefully uninformed. Now, I envy them.
Enjoy your steak!
I seem to remember the mediots remarking that it looked like he didn't care because he didn't react. I think you're much closer to the truth.
My wife worked with a woman in DC who never cooked. Never. But she kept a roll of cookie dough in the freezer. When company was coming over, she'd go to the bakery and pick up a dozen cookies, she'd come home, sprinkle some flour or sugar on a platter and put the cookies out. Then she'd slice off one cookie and bake it so the house smelled like fresh baked cookies...
Wouldn't you?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.