The weakness of man

[Evisse the Blue]

After I got tired of giggling insanely over MovieElrond's corny line: "Men are weak" (mostly because of its Matrix allusion), it got me thinking of the general objections of ME men (with the exception of Aragorn and Faramir) when it came to Gandalf's theory of sending two halflings to Mordor to destroy the ring.

This basically can be summarized as folows:
<We know the ring is evil, and using it is wrong. On the other hand, we know that if Sauron gets it, things are going to turn quickly from bad to the worst we can conceive. That's why we cannot take the insane risk of letting it fall into his hands again. One chance is all we get We must seize it: either use the Ring, or hide it for the time being.>

And their take on things is oh so logic and reasonable - in the light of theirlimited life span. For them, it is in this lifetime that they must win or lose. While Gandalf, who is a Maia, and the Elves, who are immortal - ANd they can sail west anytime perceive things differently: if Sauron gets the ring back, he may be made to lose it yet again, in 1.000 years or so. But then, the children's children's children (born and raised in slavery) of the men who made that decision 1.000 years ago will be ashes and bones.

Men are NOT weak, they simply calculate the costs and benefits of an important (and irreversible) action differently, especially if they know it will affect not only them but their descendants also.

They put a lot of faith in reason (how very true, for modern man, too) while Gandalf and the Elves tend to rely on Fate (makes sense, they've seen it at work for ages).

Which goes to show that, when you have to make an important decision, you don't have to be smart up here <points to head> but down here <points to heart>.

well, just needed to let this out. turned out a much longer post than originally intended, sorry. but it makes for some light reading [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]