The road goes ever on and on

...Down from the door where it began.

That is the beginning of the first poem/song I ever read from JRR Tolkien. It was sung by Bilbo Baggins, a famously wandering hobbit. The song had a huge part in me becoming absolutely enthralled with the world Tolkien created. The reader has a hard time relating to most of the hobbits in his writing because they are resolutely anti-wandering. There is a huge wide world outside their beloved Shire, but they not only do not care to see it, they fear it. I think there is a lot to be said for the fact that Tolkien's protagonists are constantly on a journey. When the journey ends, their story does also. There is precious little written by Tolkien about what Samwise or Merry or Pip did once they returned to the Shire. There is little written about people once they reach the grey havens or about Aragorn once he became king.



I think Tolkien knew that the story was all in the journey.

We as a people revere others who have riches or renown. But we revere even more the people who are "self-made" Who doesn't love a good rags-to-riches story? We are fascinated with how they got to where they are, but the "my daily life as a billionaire" books somehow never make it to bestseller status. We are fascinated by books about people losing enormous amounts of weight, and the things that caused their weight-gain in the first place, but not interested in their lives now that they fit the "normal" mold.

One day, I hope to be a "successful" person. I want to have the type of life that would make others want to read about; the type of life that makes others think I possess some marvelous secret about life. But I also hope to never be finished with my journey. The jury is still out about whether both are possible at the same time, but I'll keep plugging on either way.