Wisdom from Samwise

I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy for many reasons, but mostly because it speaks to something deep inside of me. I love the battle scenes, the deep poignant moments of love and tenderness, the moments of indecision and faith. It gets me every time because it is so real. Truly. What is the walk of life but this battle between truth and lies, between fighting for our own way or submitting to the Way, between deep wells of pain and euphoric moments of joy? The story of the Lord of the Rings is archetypal: good vs. evil, light vs. dark. But it is also so much more than that. So very very much more. I find what Samwise says near the end of the Two Towers so incredibly excellent:
"I can't do this, Sam."
"I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened? But in the end, its only a passing thing. This shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turnin' back only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding onto something."
"What are we holding onto, Sam?"
"That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fightin' for."
Amen, Sam.