‘Tis a Gift to be Simple

As today is the birthday of J.R.R. Tolkien, I was thinking about an important passage from The Fellowship of the Ring. While he is in Rivendell, Aragorn explains during the Council:

‘If Gondor, Boromir, has been a stalwart tower, we have played another part. Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond your bounds. Peace and freedom, do you say? The North would have known them little but for us. Fear would have destroyed them. But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or creep from sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dúnedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave?

‘And yet less thanks have we than you. Travellers scowl at us, and countrymen give us scornful names. “Strider” I am to one fat man who lives within a day’s march of foes that would freeze his heart, or lay his little town in ruin, if he were not guarded ceaselessly. Yet we would not have it otherwise. If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be, and we must be secret to keep them so. That has been the task of my kindred, while the years have lengthened and the grass has grown.

The Rangers took on the responsibility of allowing people to remain simple. On one hand, this sounds like an insult to the people of Bree. Wouldn’t they be better off to have a realistic view of the world? Shouldn’t they be aware of the danger that is around them? It seems as if J.R.R. Tolkien is suggesting that the old maxim is true: ignorance is bliss.

However, notice that these people remain simple only when free from care and fear. I can assume that most of you reading this would like to have a little less fear or care. I am reaching the point in life where my friends and I laugh about how easy we had it when we were kids, with more time for sports or video games and no worries about things like health insurance premiums or home repairs.

There is nothing wrong with the innocence of childhood. By this definition, we could say that life was a lot simpler back then. However, it was only simple because our parents made it so. They were acting as the Rangers, keeping things in order for us so that we could enjoy our lives free of fear and care. They knew that we would someday grow up and take on some of these burdens, but they willingly shouldered that responsibility for the time to allow us to remain simple.

As an adult, I think about the employee-employer relationship as a similar manifestation. As an employee, there are many things that you don’t have to know and don’t really have to care about. You are allowed to remain simple, and you will receive that paycheck on the scheduled day because someone is taking the risk, protecting you from having to worry too much about the macroeconomic environment. They navigate those things to provide stability for those of us who are employees.

You might also apply this to the government. You all should be grateful that I am not in charge of the national defense of the United States. I don’t know what I’m doing. However, because there are people continually working to keep us safe, it is fine that I remain simple.

No parent, employer, or government is perfect. I know that will be the immediate counterpoint to my suggestion above. However, as we enter the new year, I hope we can all be grateful to those Rangers who are doing their best to allow us to maintain our simple lives. It is not an insult to be simple; it is a privilege that is meant to be enjoyed. My simplicity or your simplicity is a gift that someone else has sacrificed to provide.

Perhaps your calling is to be a Ranger. It is not a bad thing for Aragorn to be Aragorn; it is actually necessary for public safety. It is a fine thing to be a good parent, a good employer, or even a good politician (if they exist :-)). However, as you are called to these positions, remember that your job is to help those who are simple remain simple. It is not your job to increase those in your charge to the level of anxiety that you have voluntarily chosen to take on. It is good and admirable that you are willing to bear the burden, but remember, you do not need to make your burden everyone else’s.

Social media sometimes makes us feel like everything everywhere has to be our burden. I don’t think we were made to function that way. There has only been one Person who was able to bear the burden of all the burdens of the world, and He was not you or me. If you find yourself feeling frustrated about things that are really not your concern, I would suggest taking a step back and a breather. It does not mean that no bad things happen, and you might feel like I am just telling you to bury your head in the sand.

Quite the contrary.

I think that you will find that by embracing the simplicity of your own situation, focusing on whatever type of Ranger responsibilities you have, you will actually be able to attend to them better when you’re not being distracted by things you cannot control. By remaining simple, you will actually do better for those you are called to help. You will be able to help your family, your coworkers, or your constituents be free from fear and care. If you do that, you did your job.