Well, this is awkward. I didn't really mean to do a Valentine's Day article. But here I am writing one. So this is raw writing. Stream of consciousness. No editing. At all.
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“I think what ‘The Hobbit’ and Middle-earth deal in are quite universal and timeless themes of honor and love and friendship . . . so they’re things that do resonate with people.”’ Martin Freeman is the actor who portrayed Bilbo Baggins in “The Desolation of Smaug,” the film he was promoting when he said this quote. Martin was definitely correct when he said this. ‘The Hobbit’ and Middle-earth do deal with universal and timeless themes. Boromir’s great sacrifice at the end of the ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ and the faithfulness of Samwise Gamgee are examples of timeless themes within the world of Middle-earth.
But Martin Freeman was wrong too, because none of the films in ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy truly resonated with me. How can this be? Universal themes should resonate universally. Don’t the films in ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy use universal and timeless themes? Of course they do. Bilbo Baggins is a man of great honor. The bond among the dwarves is clearly seen. We even have a romance between Tauriel and Kili. The problem isn’t with the themes that ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy deals with. The problem is with how they deliver these themes. I’m sorry. I truly am. And I totally understand what you’re going through, because it’s happened to me too. Waking up on January 1st with a glimmer of hope in my eye. Slogging through the cycle of failure and resolve for twenty-something days. Finally deciding on February 1st that it’s not worth it all. I’ve done that more times than I can count. It’s pitiful. Really.
At least you’re not alone. According to business author Stephen Shapiro, about 73% of Americans almost never succeed in keeping their New Year’s resolutions. He says that about 8% of the population is always successful. StatisticBrain has similar findings, reporting that only 9.2% felt they were successful in keeping their resolutions. Such a small achievement rate has led to 42% of those polled admitting that they absolutely never make New Year’s resolutions. This certainly seems like the right approach. I mean, if only one out of four people sometimes finish their New Year’s resolutions then why even bother? What’s the point of going through the same failures every year? Why build up hope just so you can fail? Why do we even make resolutions at the beginning of the year? |
About MarkI create stories and lift things up and put them down. All for the glory of God. Archives
January 2018
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