[Bill Ferny]

I think people should live by their own standards in the parts of their lives not interacting with others.

There’s no such part. All reality is interconnected.

What’s all this lightning struck mud stuff? If that’s really how you see yourself, then you must have a really low opinion of everyone else. Sounds a bit like what Wormtongue wanted King Théoden to think of himself.

I just meant that people have to work out their own moral standards because the law and whoever you believe in will generally not be enough to keep the whole world in check.

So what you are saying is that we should lock our doors, and keep a fearful watch on the night, keep our mouths shut, and not meddle in the affairs of others no matter what they do. The world matters not as long as my own house is in order. Nothing should matter to me except those standards that I make for myself on my little island, safely hidden away beyond the reach of others. Well, God help my neighbors, because I certainly won’t.

That wasn’t intended as a personal attack against you, Menelien, so don’t take it that way. It’s merely a demonstration of what kind of world we create for ourselves with that kind of thinking.

It sounds harsh to impose a standard of living on other people, but the opposite is far less attractive when you really think about it. This issue is the essence of book III, chapter 6 of The Two Towers; it’s about moving beyond one’s selfish, private and petty concerns to do what is right in a dangerous world. It means moving beyond oneself to help those suffering, to bring justice to the world, and, yes, sometimes, even to go to war. Above all it means risking everything about yourself to give yourself to your neighbor, and the first thing that should be sacrificed should be those personal moral standards that we neatly create behind closed doors without others to meddle in how we see ourselves and the world we live in. That takes courage and strength. The easy path, the path of the coward and weakling, the path of Wormtongue’s councils, is to stay at home, locked up, pleased with our petty personal standards and illusions.

”Your fingers would remember their old strength better, if they grasped a sword-hilt,” said Gandalf.