Thoughts for a Graduate; and Two at Large

“Now is the time for our esteemed Mr. Baggins, who has proved himself a good companion on our long road, and a hobbit full of courage and resource far exceeding his size, and if I may say so possessed of good luck far exceeding the usual allowance - now is the time for him to perform the service for which he was included in our Company; now is the time for him to earn his Reward.”

    This was the charge of Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain upon the opening of the enchanted doorway into the Lonely Mountain: the once home of his fathers, and dwarfin kin and now home to the dragon Smaug, the “Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities.”  It is also my charge upon the opening of the doorway into the world, to a Classically educated, and distinctly Christian Graduate.

    Mr. Baggins indeed entered the darkened, secret passage into the mountain and made his way toward the end where an opening stood. It was here before he pressed on out, where an “unmistakable gurgling noise of some vast animal snoring in its sleep down there in the red glow in front of him” was seen and heard. Then it says of the little hobbit, what I consider to be the one of the most astonishing lines:  “Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterwards were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait.”
Since you are familiar with Tolkien's The Hobbit, perhaps you too marvel that the Hobbit’s bravery there in that dark tunnel, exceeded even the encounter with Smaug himself - not to mention trolls, spiders, wargs and goblins.  This is the sort of bravery required for the Christian graduate to make up his mind to press on out into the world with the charge to “perform the service for which he was included in our Company.” Make no mistake, it will take no less than a Hobbit’s bravery to reclaim what belongs to the King.  But let's not forget that you, graduate, are equipped with far better than the the confident words of a wizard and an elvish dagger. You have a surer Word and a sharper Sword. For the King himself has said to you, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you,” and “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

~J