I’ve been thinking a lot about Tolkien.

It is often remarked that a central thesis of his books is that evil provides the means of its own defeat. Sauron crafted the One Ring that killed him, Shelob impaled herself of Sam’s blade, Smaug exposed his belly to Bilbo and let him see the weak point.

I think it is less often commented on that the corollary to that is that good must still act to use those weaknesses. The Ring did not cast itself into the fires of Mt Doom but was brought by the Hobbits. Shelob was only able to impale herself because Sam kept his arm strong and held it out. The black arrow still needed to be shot into Smaug’s belly.

And a final point that I don’t see often enough is that Tolkien clearly believes good only loses if it surrenders to hopelessness. Denethor’s suicide driven by fear would have broken Minas Tirith if not for the Fellowship, Frodo would have fallen to despair if Sam had not been there to carry him, if Bilbo had seen the shot as hopeless then he never could have warned of the weak spot.

But because in those cases someone provided hope, good triumphed.

I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking about that a lot lately for some reason.

A reminder to my friends and followers on here about how today is #InternationalAsexualityDay -- while I myself identify as agender, there have been times I've understood myself through a lens of asexuality and aromanticism during my questioning period (and, to be honest, I still do).

Here's a little post to those who feel similarly about having this term be a part of their experience right now of continuing to figure out who they are and finding comfort in it as a potential answer rather than just feeling empty or alone in the sentiment. #LGBTQ #Asexual #Aromantic

NZ: "Almost 200,000 New Zealanders are now living with long COVID"

🔹4 out 5 (77.7%) adults had COVID (~3.3 million people)
🔹1 out 11 (9.2%) adults report long COVID (~401,000)
🔹185,000 adults (4.3%) currently experiencing long COVID
🔹1 in 7 (14.9%) women vs 1 in 12 (8.5%) men having long COVID symptoms

#COVID19 #LongCOVID

Source: https://theconversation.com/almost-200-000-new-zealanders-are-now-living-with-long-covid-where-is-the-government-plan-278973

Study: https://www.health.govt.nz/publications/covid-19-and-long-covid-202425-new-zealand-health-survey

I still occasionally like to take the odd zoomed in #photo.

I am chuckling, because I realised this is a photo of #moss and I just saw someone post about the virtues of sharing pictures of moss.

But #nature is so intricate and varied. This is the world we should be living with, not destroying for technological gain.

#mosstodon