"How did it come to this?"

This is one of my favorite lines in The Lord of the Rings three movie/book series. I happens in The Two Towers, when Theoden, king of Rohan...looks upon the 10,000 orcs created and gathered by the Personification of Evil to besiege his stronghold, one of the last remaining, defending the "Men of the West" (Western Civilization) against the overwhelming tide of evil seeking its annihilation.

He was peering into a dark future, the likely end of the Era and World of Men, and the rise of the Dark Lord and his anti-human, anti-freedom, anti-joy, anti-goodness, anti-truth, inhuman minions.

I use the line often.

My honorable, true, beautiful, free, fair, just country is being besieged by today's Orcs: Democrats/Progressives/Liberals/Muslims. And they are as anti-human, anti-freedom, anti-joy, anti-goodness and anti-truth as any fearsome fictional monsters.

Courage against seemingly insuperable odds won the day. The certainty of death on the battlefield and behind the lines did not stop the outnumbered Men from standing up for what they knew was the only light in a progressively dark, ugly, cruel world.

I guess saying the line is a nod to the hopelessness of it all.

But, in the end, they did win.

Human courage and truth, loyalty and faith won the day.

So...while it looks bleak, stand fast. Don't give up.

Stand and be True, as another author wrote...and perhaps we will be victorious. But, if we die in the attempt, at least we know a better place awaits us. A place where the Orcs can't follow.

/gun