The Road to Caradhras

There's nothing I can say that won't start a shouting match, civil as it might be.

And that's what it would be: A shouting match. People talking past each other but not really listening because being right is more important than listening.

It's ironic, given the ease with which we communicate these days. But we all live in gulags. Some are more isolated and brutal than others. And rare are the times we can commiserate without someone taking up the battle cry: "Let 'em all go to hell, except Cave 76."

"It is a strange fate," Tolkein tells us through Boromir, "that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing."

We are on the road to Caradhras, folks. And the snow grows deep. There are many fell voices on the air.

Or as another said, there are mists of darkness that draw us off into forbidden paths, until we are lost.