I hope you all enjoy this one.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit.
Over time Bilbo had taken to writing a diary or a journal of sorts. It helped him sort out his thoughts on some days and others simply severed as a way to release his inner frustration or on others simply to hold his thoughts.
In the end I wondered what was the meaning of it? What was the purpose of it all? Oh of course the material gain was apparent, but the emotion loss had no meaning. We could have gained all that we did without losing what we did. So why? What was the purpose? And if so, why those? And why me? Out of all the people that could have been chosen why me? What was the meaning of everything that occurred? I know they say the answers often come in time. But I confess that that I have waited a long time and as yet no answer has graced my understanding. I often think and wonder but I cannot come up with a reason. Save perhaps one and it is a poor one. It explains nothing and I'm sure, will always explain nothing. Its goal is not explanation but acceptance. And that one poor reason is that such is life. People die, they go, they meet, they love and laugh and cry, strange things happen, ordinary things happen, sad things happen, happy things too, and they all make up life. So such is life, and we are all subject to the whim of fate for no one can escape their path in life. Indeed I wouldn't have my own life any different. But yet still I wonder what is the lesson in all that have occurred? What is the meaning, the reason? I think I would sleep far more settled if I knew, that there was a reason, something that didn't make it all seem so useless.
Several years later Bilbo came back to this entry and added the following passage.
Because some has to do the business of living, the growing and eating and drinking, the dancing the laughing, the peaceful ordinary living. And some people are meant to be heroes, to be great people, to be part of great quests because they could handle it. Because they could look on from the outside at the peaceful living and survive without it. Because they could sacrifice everything for others. Because they could accept their lives being short, burning ever so bright for a short while, while others cannot, so long as those others are safe. And it is a harsh lot in life but these are happy with it and would choose nothing else. And they are as rare and precious as the finest gem and would live on in our hearts forever.
A/N: Bilbo's answer for his questions is gotten from Carol Berg's Rai-kirah series.