Unexpected Strengths

As a belated birthday present to him and an early birthday present to me, the roomie and I went to see The Hobbit today. Due to money and health issues, this is the first movie I've seen in over a year. It was very much worth it though.  It was a little bittersweet. There were some thing happening today that are very sad. Things I needed to be distracted from. It was also the first movie with hobbits in it that I'd not seen with my mother. She'd read Tolkien's work to me when I was little.

You know, one of the on-going themes of his work is the idea that great acts and world-altering events do not just happen because of powerful people and those of noble birth. Sometimes it is the most common, most humble of people who is the one who can change the course of events. The witchking is killed in part because of a hobbit. Little gardener Samwise basically carries Frodo to Mt. Doom. And, in the beginning of it all, there is Bilbo.

Bilbo starts out as a persnickety little fuss. He whines. He complains. He cowers. He stammers. He seems completely unlikely to be able to even survive the journey. Half the time, you don't even care if he does or not, due to all of his whining and complaining. Practically everyone questions Gandalf's sanity for even bringing him along.

Bilbo possesses a great foundation though. All of his griping is due to his want to be back home. He loves his home and considers it to be the best place in the world. For a long while, you're thinking this adoration of his home is hindering him from really being a part of the adventure. Yet, it turns out to be the one thing that fundamentally makes him understand why he SHOULD be on the adventure. He HAS a home. It's a good home. One he loves. The dwarfs don't have a home. It was taken from them.

Bilbo doesn't really want gold or glory. He doesn't want to prove how strong he is or how clever. Using these as reasons for him to continue the journey would never work. He would always continue to resist. However, once he realized he was fighting for someone else to be able to have a home, he was totally with them. He found the motivation he needed to continue his adventure. It sustained him as he did some very brave things.

This is a very good example of the idea that change has to be motivated by an internal concept. Bilbo's love for his home was not just something he would fight for when it was just him. He would fight for this for everyone. He didn't just decide to be brave and he was.  He shifted in his mind his reasons for being brave and fixed the idea of it around something he believed to be fundamentally important.