We just finished watching all three of the extended movies that make up Lord of the Rings (Directed by Peter Jackson). Understand, we didn’t do a marathon — we watched about half a movie a night and finished tonight. It’s a way to unwind. However, every time I watch, my husband (Hyperion: Poor, poor, pitiful, me!) ends up listening to me rant about how Frodo never would have made it without Sam and he doesn’t get enough credit — so I thought I’d share my pain here.
There’s a bit in movie two when Sam and Frodo are talking about about whether stories will ever be told about their adventure, and if Frodo will become a legend in hobbit history. During the talk, Frodo says, “What about Sam? Frodo wouldn’t have made it very far without Sam?” But, when I read the books as a teenager, I realized that Sam was just as much a hero as Frodo, if not more. Yes, Frodo carried the ring and had the weight of it, and the push of the evil on his shoulders for the whole journey. But it was Sam who kept him going. Sam who gave Frodo the help he needed to keep on track with the quest. He fed him. He watched out for him. He gave him hope and laughter when there was none to be had in what was going on around them. That doesn’t take away from Frodo’s efforts to complete the task set for him — to get to Mordor and destroy the ring. But Frodo couldn’t have done it without Sam.
At the end, if Gollum hadn’t shown up, it would have been Sam who would have had to force the destruction of the ring in spite of Frodo. Sam is the anchor to all that is right and worth saving in Middle Earth. No paragon of virtue, but a good person doing the best he can in bad circumstances. He deserves some credit for his part in the adventure as do Merry and Pippin. They each in their own way advanced the cause to save Middle Earth from darkness.
Jackson gives testimony to this by having the newly crowned Aragorn bow before the Hobbits. He also later (in the books) makes the Shire a protected area to help keep the Hobbits safe from human meddling. But as the Eye disintegrates in the final fall of Sauron, it’s Frodo’s name on everyone’s lips. In my youth, it was “Frodo Lives” on all the buttons, banners, and what not celebrating the books. But what about Sam?
To my mind, Sam is the everyman of the piece. He’s the guy that just does what needs to be done without thinking about glory or duty or any of that. He’s the electrician that goes out in the middle of storms to restore power — because it’s his job and it needs to be done (he in the generic form that includes women). He’s the one that stops to help when you have a flat on the side of the road and can’t find your jack and/or your spare is flat. The person who goes to the gas station and gets you gas when you run out. The person who is there with a helping hand when they could just as easily drive by and go on with their own life.
Sam is the person, we see every day in our lives who goes that extra mile and never asks for anything in return. So, why don’t more people recognize the heroism of Sam, Merry, and Pippin. The ones who are caught up and just do the best they can for what is right in spite of being small and overlooked.
I’m sure if you think about it there have been some Sams in your life. Maybe you are or have been a Sam. Maybe if we were all Sam more often the world wouldn’t be in the mess it is. So, lets have a cheer for Sam. Frodo never could have done it without Sam.
Today it was 101 without the heat index. The weather stations said it wouldn’t cool off until 8 PM. We walked down to the mailbox about 4PM and it was really hot. But at 8:30 PM, temperature 95 degrees, we went out and watered all the plants. Finished prepping the lavender slice of the herb garden. While Paul pulled weeds in some of the perennial planters, I managed to plant the 3 rosemary plants and the 4 lavender plants.
Today was hot — 98 degrees (107 with heat index). Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter. But this evening it was another thunder, lightning, and rain storm. I’m hoping if dries off so we can get some yard work done tomorrow. We were supposed to run errands today but it took 6 hours at the tire place to get a replacement tire and wheel alignment. That blew a day. Paul went alone and I got to stay home and catch up on some of the work I didn’t get done during week because of headaches and missing spoons. Guess what, you can almost see the dining room table again.
Hyperion here. I didn’t tell Gayle at the time, since I didn’t want her to worry, but the bulletin we received said that a line of thunderstorms was approaching at 60 miles per hour. It looked likely to spawn tornados as well, so either get out of the way, or get to a shelter. Since it was heading west to east, and I live east of work, I decided to bug out before the storm hit and out run it if I could. In the five minutes it took me to shut things down and get to the parking garage, the weather went from cloudy, but still, to black clouds, high wind, and torrential rains. The power also started flickering in the building. I was suppose to go to the recycling center and the post office on the way home, but decided I preferred staying alive. I skedaddled home as quickly as I could and did manage to stay ahead of the worst of it. Still, it knocked a lot of tree limbs down onto the road, and even a couple of whole trees. Traffic lights were also out for the last 20 miles of the trip. Miraculously, the other drivers actually slowed down and behave rationally, so other than having to swerve around debris in the road, the trip wasn’t actually that bad. After that we had a nice late afternoon reading by oil lamp and wind-up lanterns, and now the powers back (obviously) and the rain has settled down to a nice relaxing hiss outside.