“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 had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it’ll 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 turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.”

“What are we holding on to, Sam?”

“That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”

– Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins
The Two Towers

I love this quote, every bit of it. It speaks to me of hope and faith, and finding such in the midst of legitimate fear and despair. It speaks of the importance of stories, how they inspire and teach us, both as children and as adults, which is what this blog, and Sunday’s Wisdom especially, is all about. Most of all, it speaks of how this world is not all bad, how there is goodness and kindness and laughter, and these things are worth defending, rather than bowing down to whatever tyranny would strip them away.

All of these are truths most dear to my heart.