[VanimaEdhel]

I most whole-heartily agree that without Mr. Tolkien, I would be very different.

But then again, all that occurs in one's life changes how one is. If you woke up 10 minutes later today, how would your life be different? It may not have been, but, then again, you may have gotten to work late, and gotten in troulbe. Or you may not have had that annoying conversation. Or you may have just checked your mail 10 minutes later, which means you may have had something new in your inbox. Without anything in our lives, our entire lives could be changed.

I thought about that a lot, being from New York, recently. What if 9-11 never happened? What would be happening in our country? I cannot even begin to fathom where we would be, being merely 14 years of age. But, if one person had discovered the plot and reported it, it may not have happened, and I wonder: how would the world be different?

Or was it fate: was that meant to happen that day? The wonders of the universe are far too complex for even religion to grasp, I think. I mean, what if the universe would not have been complete without Mr. Tolkien's books? What if, somehow, the books convinced a group of people NOT to kill innocent lives? The world would be different if that group HAD killed.

Or maybe, just maybe, another author would have come and written a similar story and we would be on these boards talking about THAT author...I don't know...this topic is getting big: I'm going to give it its own topic in the room.