[Kalla]

I couldn't agree more with you NazgulNumber10!! I'm a bit new here, usually in the movies section, but I"m venturing out today. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] I think middle earth is within us...our hearts, our souls, and that is what enables us to see these parallels. Middle Earth is as real as the bonds of love you have for your friends and family...but it is intangible. You cannot prove you love someone any more than you can prove middle earth was a real solid place. We all know people like Bilbo, Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir, Sam, and Frodo. And if you look at any personality test it is interesting to find that if you take LotR and were to put a sterotyped personality on each, the porportions would be similiar to what you'd find today. Those like Boromir and Merry and Pippin would be numerous while those like Frodo and Gandalf would be less. I also think one of the greatest things this story has, is it gives us a chance to remember what is really important and what should really matter. I guess in that sense, some really do live in Middle Earth, while others live on Earth, and others still just live.

As for civilization's dwindling quality...*shrug* I've had the fortunately experience to work in retail, where civilization is at it's best :P, and in teaching where you see it all. What I have seen is a trend in people becoming more focused on themselves, or at least their families. I've seen people walk by when a new mother's packages fall all over, but I've also seen a little boy give my brother a toy he had just bought for no reason...he just said, here, this is for you and his mother asked if he was sure and he said yes so she nodded and then left. I've seen children come to school with clothes too small and dirty and dark circles under their eyes, but I've seen them laugh and have fun as they play. What saddens me is I am seeing more and more people who walk by and hearing less and less laughter. However, about the time I feel like the whole of society is going down the drain, a little boy helps an old man walk to the escalator, so...lol. I guess what this rambling is trying to say is that I do not think Middle Earth was going down the tubes...perhaps it was becoming unclear who was "good" and who was "bad" if you choose to sterotype a contradiction that lives within us all. But I feel it is no different from today...you cannot tell who it is that is "good" or "bad" Just like the dishelved boy...he was not who a sterotype would say would do such a thing, whereas two young people walking by bump into an old person and don't even appoligize and they look like a classic couple with a baby on the way. I guess I just see most of Middle Earth's society the same as the society we have today, just with different surroundings.

Of course, I believe in magic too, so...there you have it. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] I can listen to the laughter of children and I know...magic does exist...we just must be open to see it. If that is not enough...to know that with love, we can do anything and it will withstand the trials of time seems pretty amazing and magical to me. But enough of my ramblings...I have many thoughts and words are not always the best tool for me to use to express them, at least not in paragraph forms. Thanks for reading my ramblings, it's always nice to have a place to express your ideas, even if they don't always come out right. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

I think Middle Earth is that place within ourselves where we truly want to go...the core of who we are, good and bad together. A place where we are accepted and safe to be just ourselves. It's that part of us that clings to hope in the worst of times, allowing us to laugh despite ourselves. We can all live there, but many choose a different reality, for reality is just that. What is reality to a mental patient is not to you, and yet, if that person hears helicopters and there are none you can hear, it is no different than if you see a bird fly by your window as you're driving. Just because someone can or cannot say they heard/saw/felt the same, does not mean it wasn't real. Life is what we make it...and thus reality is how we see life.