What Lord of the Rings Means to Me
It was the last day of school. I had suffered a whole year of people poking fun at me because I loved Lord of the Rings. They didn't understand. I don't think they would ever understand. I didn't just like Lord of the Rings; I lived Lord of the Rings.
"Gosh, Laura. Are you ever going to stop talking about the Two Towers?" Ben asked, provoking me.
"Ben, shut up." I said through gritted teeth. I sat down at my assigned seat in my class. I looked at the board that said:
Oral Speech. Talk about one thing that you couldn't live without.
We had to do it off the top our heads. One by one each person in the class got up and talked about their families. They talked about their friends. They talked about Paintball. They talked about Manicures.
"Laura," my teacher said, "it's your turn."
I stood in front of the class. I was the last one to go. I stuttered the first few words. I stopped and cleared my throat. I spoke up again.
"The whole year I've dealt with you making fun of my obsession with Lord of the Rings. My speech today, on this glorious last day of school, will be explaining why I am the way I am about this certain subject."
"I spent my years in school going through it like a normal kid. I was worrying about how many friends I had, was I pretty enough, did I wear the right clothes. That all changed though the minute I picked up a certain book called The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. That was when I realized that maybe I could reach for the stars and be able to touch them. It didn't end with The Hobbit though, it progressed to Lord of the Rings."
"I live Lord of the Rings, I don't like it. To me it proposes the hope that good can overcome and conquer evil. That I can overcome any obstacle that was put in front of me. That's how I started living my life. Then I entered school this year, and I never thought life could be so hard."
"Lord of the Rings became an escape. A way to get away from everything that was happening in the world. I wanted so badly for it to be real. I wanted so bad to wake up one morning and be hanging out in Gondor, and sailing down the Great River. That wasn't true though. So now, in my heart, it really happened. It is happening. It's so close to me, but no matter how hard I try, I can't reach it"
"I sat at night and wondered how I could get there, when I realized that I couldn't, I lost hope. I didn't think I could get through life. The movie only made it worse. There was, sitting in front of me and I couldn't get to it."
"So now, I just sit and hope. Maybe it's a place you can go to after you die. Maybe, but if I want you to take one thing away from this speech, it's this. I don't think Mr. Tolkien made Lord of the Rings for everyone. He made it for certain people, people that could take it and believe that it happened, but know that it didn't, and never could. He made it for the people who could take the lessons out of it, and share it with other people."
"So, you can still sit there and poke fun at me for liking Lord of the Rings, but now you know the truth. You know how I feel."
I took my seat and the class stayed silent. There was no applause; the teacher didn't say anything.
"Well said. Well done." A voice said from a beautiful place where good overcame evil.
I floated out of my seat, into a magical place. Into a beautiful land that nobody thought they could get to.
At the funeral service, written on the grave it said: May It Be:In Dreams. Lord of the Rings will live on forever. Ben gave the special speech. It was simple but sweet.
"She always told us in a way that we never could understand to reach for the stars. But we understand now. May we pray that she be in Middle Earth, walking through the fields of the Shire."
A voice echoed through the breeze, and nobody stopped to hear it. But the class did, and they knew it was Mr. Tolkien and Laura, sailing down the Great River.
It was the last day of school. I had suffered a whole year of people poking fun at me because I loved Lord of the Rings. They didn't understand. I don't think they would ever understand. I didn't just like Lord of the Rings; I lived Lord of the Rings.
"Gosh, Laura. Are you ever going to stop talking about the Two Towers?" Ben asked, provoking me.
"Ben, shut up." I said through gritted teeth. I sat down at my assigned seat in my class. I looked at the board that said:
Oral Speech. Talk about one thing that you couldn't live without.
We had to do it off the top our heads. One by one each person in the class got up and talked about their families. They talked about their friends. They talked about Paintball. They talked about Manicures.
"Laura," my teacher said, "it's your turn."
I stood in front of the class. I was the last one to go. I stuttered the first few words. I stopped and cleared my throat. I spoke up again.
"The whole year I've dealt with you making fun of my obsession with Lord of the Rings. My speech today, on this glorious last day of school, will be explaining why I am the way I am about this certain subject."
"I spent my years in school going through it like a normal kid. I was worrying about how many friends I had, was I pretty enough, did I wear the right clothes. That all changed though the minute I picked up a certain book called The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. That was when I realized that maybe I could reach for the stars and be able to touch them. It didn't end with The Hobbit though, it progressed to Lord of the Rings."
"I live Lord of the Rings, I don't like it. To me it proposes the hope that good can overcome and conquer evil. That I can overcome any obstacle that was put in front of me. That's how I started living my life. Then I entered school this year, and I never thought life could be so hard."
"Lord of the Rings became an escape. A way to get away from everything that was happening in the world. I wanted so badly for it to be real. I wanted so bad to wake up one morning and be hanging out in Gondor, and sailing down the Great River. That wasn't true though. So now, in my heart, it really happened. It is happening. It's so close to me, but no matter how hard I try, I can't reach it"
"I sat at night and wondered how I could get there, when I realized that I couldn't, I lost hope. I didn't think I could get through life. The movie only made it worse. There was, sitting in front of me and I couldn't get to it."
"So now, I just sit and hope. Maybe it's a place you can go to after you die. Maybe, but if I want you to take one thing away from this speech, it's this. I don't think Mr. Tolkien made Lord of the Rings for everyone. He made it for certain people, people that could take it and believe that it happened, but know that it didn't, and never could. He made it for the people who could take the lessons out of it, and share it with other people."
"So, you can still sit there and poke fun at me for liking Lord of the Rings, but now you know the truth. You know how I feel."
I took my seat and the class stayed silent. There was no applause; the teacher didn't say anything.
"Well said. Well done." A voice said from a beautiful place where good overcame evil.
I floated out of my seat, into a magical place. Into a beautiful land that nobody thought they could get to.
At the funeral service, written on the grave it said: May It Be:In Dreams. Lord of the Rings will live on forever. Ben gave the special speech. It was simple but sweet.
"She always told us in a way that we never could understand to reach for the stars. But we understand now. May we pray that she be in Middle Earth, walking through the fields of the Shire."
A voice echoed through the breeze, and nobody stopped to hear it. But the class did, and they knew it was Mr. Tolkien and Laura, sailing down the Great River.