(no subject)

filkertom linked to a cartoon the other day which purported to provide “a little perspective.” It showed, on one side, a man looking at a bill and thinking “Bankrupt. Life is over.” And on the other it showed a grave of an unnamed victim of the tsunami disaster: “Someone Beloved.”

While seeing the point, I couldn’t help but think that a follow-up, of slightly greater length, might not be inappropriate. On the one side, you could have subsequent events: the court judgment, the towing-away of the car, the angry departure of the wife and children, the repossession of the home, the refusal of welfare benefits, the begging on the street, the bottle in the brown paper bag, the body on the park bench. And on the other, you could have the grave, over and over again, perhaps with a nice tree growing out of it.

I’m not a great fan of death, overall, as most of my friends will know. I don’t tend to think of it as a gateway to a new level of existence, or an awfully big adventure, or a blessing in any way. But there are worse things, and we made most of them.

On the subject of things one notices in LotR…

Jan spotted this. At the end of the last book/film, when Frodo and Sam are having their bonding moment in the middle of the lava flow, they are rescued by three eagles, Gwaihir and his brothers Landroval and Meneldur, if I remember aright. Gandalf is riding Gwaihir, who I think picks up Frodo. One of the others picks up Sam.

So why three eagles?

Sméagol. Right to the last Gandalf held out hope for him as well. Maybe a vain hope, maybe a fool’s hope, but if Gandalf believed it then it was possible. He could have come back, not far perhaps, and not for long, but the possibility was there.

That’s nice.