The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
What would Sam do? A letter to my son
Dear C,
As we approach the second presidential election of your lifetime, it seems appropriate that I should reflect on this and offer you some thoughts on our country. You already know more than a lot of secondgraders about elections; after all, you’ve gone doorknocking for local candidates, you’ve met senators and representatives, and you’ve already gone through one of the rites of passage of local political controversy.
During election season we all think about things like honor and our ideals. Politicians like to tell us that they represent these ideals, and they speak a lot about the honor of public service.
The best way to explain these complicated ideas is to go back to our favorite movies, “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy (yes, the extended editions — I know you’ll insist on that). Through all of those movies, we see how the One Ring and its promise of unlimited power corrupts almost everyone who gets near it. Boromir claimed that he wanted the ring only because it could help him save Gondor, but we both know that he really wanted it for his own glory.
Think, too, of the hundreds of warriors who fought alongside Aragorn, especially his dear friends Legolas and Gimli. They fought because they saw that Aragorn represented something beyond mere power and glory, something important, honorable, and noble.
You’ve told me many times that the real hero of the story, though, is Sam, because he does the right thing not because it is easy (it certainly is not), but because it must be done. Without his dedication to his notion of honor — which to him meant supporting his friend despite the danger to himself — the Ring would never have been destroyed and Sauron would have won.
These heroes — the large ones and the small ones — show us that, as Sam says, there are things worth fighting for. In the stories Sam loves, the characters don’t turn back and give up because they are dedicated to things larger than themselves.
You’ve told me many times that the real hero of the story, though, is Sam, because he does the right thing not because it is easy (it certainly is not), but because it must be done. Without his dedication to his notion of honor — which to him meant supporting his friend despite the danger to himself — the Ring would never have been destroyed and Sauron would have won.
I’ve seen you struggle with this in small ways, and you’ve managed to come to the honorable conclusion more often than not.
When your friend convinced you to do something that your mom and I didn’t want you to do, you immediately came to us. Something about breaking the rules offended your sense of honor.
When another friend was in a grumpy mood, you sat back, offered her your
“Captain Underpants” book, and let her have some space until she felt better. In doing so, you acted like Sam, supporting your friend and letting her greater need take precedence for the moment.
In election times we like to think that we the people will uphold these high ideals of honor and dignity. We will do the right thing even if it is hard. We will stand up for those in need. We will fight for good. In
recent times, though, it feels as if these noble notions have less substance than the illuminated pixels on my iPad representing Sam and Aragorn.
In real life, the heroes are not as obvious as in the movies; they are more often flawed and human. The villains, though, always seem to have the same qualities: greed, hatred and vanity.
When we vote, we are expressing something fundamental about ourselves. Are we voting to glorify ourselves or a larger good? Are we voting to help the poor, the weak and the oppressed? Or are we voting to help the rich, the powerful and the greedy? I know what Sam would do, and I think you do, too.