My flight to Cleveland this afternoon was canceled due to inclement weather, delaying my holiday visit with family there. Fortunately, I found out about the cancellation before I'd left for Logan Airport, so I did not have to languish in that miserable purgatory of discontented travelers. Instead, I followed the loving advice of my wife Joy, the nurse who always has the right prescription for me, and sat back to enjoy several hours of Middle Earth by watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Good advice: in fact, it's just what the doctor, or better yet, the nurse ordered! While killing time before heading to Logan for the late flight, then, I kicked back in my recliner, lit the Christmas lights on our tree, and watched the second and third movies of the trilogy: the Two Towers and Return of the King. Great stuff. While I did not go so far as to dress in costume or speak Elvish - I am, after all, only part nerd - I did enjoy entering into the story, a story that, like all the great ones, stands the test of time. Indeed, watching these movies, plus the Hobbit last weekend, has made me not only want to read the books again, but has reminded me just how good, true, and beautiful the best stories are.
I grew up on stories like Lord of the Rings, the Chronicles of Narnia, the Dark is Rising, Star Wars, and later, Harry Potter. I owe this to my mom - in spite of the numerous Transformers I begged for on my endless Christmas lists in childhood, she stubbornly insisted on buying these book series for me, and I have been all the better for it. They are what I continue to enjoy, even as my Transformers collected dust and found themselves in boxes over time.
So, what is it that makes these stories special to me? For one thing, they give me a break from the tedium of everyday life, which does not always feel anything like adventure. Secondly, I have always had an active, imagination hungry for good books and movies to devour, loving nothing better than a well-told story. It's just the way I've always been. Thirdly, and most importantly, I think the greatest stories touch upon the images, truths, memories, and dreams that animate humanity. Joseph Campbell explored this line of inquiry far better than I could, but suffice it to say that I have found narrative most powerful in communicating the deeper truths in life and igniting one's spirit to seek them. Stories don't just tell us what is true, good, and beautiful - or their opposites - but show us. This is "show and tell" at its best; or, rather, tell and show - a story well told shows us the unsayable, that which cannot be said but can be apprehended and experienced.
Returning to Lord of the Rings, then, I savor the movies and books, enjoying the characters, plot, and world hatched from the ingenious head of Tolkien. I have not read the books in a good decade or so, so this winter I will refresh my memory and relish the stories once again, knowing that every rereading of inexhaustible classics such as these shows me something new. And if there's a better way to get through the long, cold, nasty winter than curling up with a good book, I haven't heard it.
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