The Real World Needs a Ringbearer
Pamela White

Who will step forward? It's a question British actor Christopher Lee asked when interviewed by National Geographic for the documentary, "Beyond the Movie: The Lord of the Rings."

Lee, who read J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy when the novels were originally released and has reread them almost every year since, plays the sinister wizard Saruman in Peter Jackson's blockbuster film. At the venerable age of 79, it's understandable that Lee sees layers of meaning and relevance in an artistic work that signifies so much to him both personally and professionally.

For those of you who haven't seen the film or read the books, a brief overview of Tolkien's story is necessary. "Lord of the Rings" tells the story of the Dark Lord Sauron, his evil creation-a ring of immense power which corrupts hearts and minds-and the small group of hobbits, men, elves and dwarves who stand against him. Central to the story is Frodo Baggins, a hobbit, who inherits the ring. At first unaware of the ring's evil powers, Frodo is eventually forced to make a choice with no good options: Take the ring to Mordor, Sauron's home turf, and try to destroy it and, with it, Sauron. Or abandon responsibility for the ring, virtually assuring that Sauron will recapture it and use it to control the world and shroud it in darkness.

If Frodo chooses the former, he is almost certain to die an unspeakably horrible death. If he chooses the latter, everything he loves will perish. Frodo reluctantly chooses to face death and darkness himself in an effort to save Middle Earth.

Frodo's quest-to destroy the deep root of evil-isn't one you or I will ever face. Or is it?

Certainly, our world is full of shadows to rival those of Mordor. Darkness has gathered over any number of places on this planet. The gloom continues to deepen over Washington, D.C., where some of the most powerful and corrupt people on Earth are planning to bomb Iraq further back into the Stone Ages. Shadows thicken over Mexico and South and Central America where so-called free trade has struck what may be a death blow to many indigenous cultures, erasing thousands of years of human experience. No light shines on the Middle East where Palestinians and Israelis strike blow after blow in what has become a brutal war of retaliation. And as the Earth's climate changes and smog fills the air , many fear our environment is changing in ways that may prove fatal to humankind.

Frodo's situation seems so much easier to grasp: one evil ring, one über-villain, give or take a Gollum, a Saruman, or a band of fighting Uruk Hai. That's the beauty of fiction.

But there's no single person, no single organization, no single object we can destroy to save our world. The darkness we experience is the result of complex human interactions, not the machinations of one mind. Corporations, government bureaucracies and military and paramilitary groups are the most visible players in our destructive drama. But those are made up of thousands upon thousands of individual human beings, each with the power to make decisions.

"There are plenty of people who desperately want a decent world right now," Lee says in the documentary. Then he pauses. "Where is the Ring Bearer?"

Many of us want the world to be a better place, but how can you fix a problem with so many causes? How can you cut through the web of deceit and corruption-as strong as any web Tolkien's monster Shelob could spin-to lay bare the problems and find solutions? Who can be held responsible when so many are guilty? It's easy to feel like a passenger trapped on some fast-moving death train, unable to stop it, unable to jump. But it might not be as hopeless as it seems.

The solution in real life might be very much like the solution Tolkien stumbles across in his books: the strength of the human-or hobbit-heart. Through harnessing our own courage and resolving to keep moving forward, we, like Frodo, might be able to change the future.

History has a smattering of Ring Bearers: Spartacus, Harriet Tubman, Crazy Horse, Black Elk, Mahatma Gandhi, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. Each was willing to risk everything to face down the darkness that afflicted their time.

Some Ring Bearers are still with us: Nelson Mandela, who spent 25 years in prison during South Africa's struggle against apartheid; Father Roy Bourgeois, who has dedicated his life to closing the School of the Americas, which trains Latin American soldiers to torture and kill; and Julia Butterfly, who lived in a tree for months on end to protect a forest from logging. There are others.

Many of these people are of humble origins. And although none sought the conflict that came into their lives, when conflict came, each stood up for what he or she knew to be right no matter how afraid they were, no matter what the cost. And so must we.

There are countless ways to make a difference: volunteering with youth or the elderly; comforting the homeless; speaking out against harmful corporate and government policies; taking time to participate in protests and rallies; going vegetarian; picking up litter; consuming less and creating more. Through even small sacrifices, transformation is possible.

But why sacrifice? None of us asked to come into a world on the brink of tearing itself apart. Yet, here we are. Either we will survive and flourish as one human race, or we will suffer and, in all likelihood, vanish.

To paraphrase Gandalf, Saruman's good-wizard counterpart in the story, none of us can decide what kind of world we're born into. The only thing we can decide is what to do with the time given to us. Like Frodo, we must decide whether to shoulder the burden we see before us-or to let it fall and hope someone else will pick it up.

Truth is, we are each of us the Ring Bearer. What we do as individuals helps determine the fate of all.

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