Bilbo Baggins in the 21st Century

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...If Y2K is really nasty we'll need coping mechanisms and new mental models to help us along. I was thinking about how we might help children cope, when it occurred to me how childlike we may find OURSELVES ie faced with so many new situations. I've been wondering who I might identify with to help me get through so much change. I like the idea of Bilbo (from the book "The Hobbit" by J R R Tolkien--sp) because though courages and value driven, he was also whimsical. Humor, after all, may tun out to be one of the most valuable preps. If TV goes down, I think I'll institute storytime for the family, starting with "The Hobbit". If Y2K isn't that bad, the family will remian to the four corners, so they'll miss out. I was wondring what other characters and stories might make good metaphors and role models for Y2K coping?.....Keeping a hanky in my pocket, and my pipe and tobacco in my vest, Alobar

-- Alobar (alobar01@webtv.net), October 31, 1999

Answers

It has occured to me that the all-seeing eye of Sauron is a lot like the all-seeing eye in the pyramid on the dollar. I just don't draw any conclusions from this. But it's metaphorical or something.

-- number six (iam_not_a_number@hotmail.com), October 31, 1999.

Howdy--

Just had to post to second your storytime suggestion, and of "The Hobbit" and Lord of the Rings in particular. Since there are probably a gazillion copies out there you can pick up the whole set cheap at the used book store, and you've got a thousand-odd pages of entertainment for child and adults.

I still reread the durn things at least once a year. Silly me.

For kids, I also recommend "Johnny Tremaine" (wrong spelling, I think).

And for adults, I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Also any and all Tom Clancy.

Books are Y2K compliant,

-- William in Dallas (bcheek@onramp.net), October 31, 1999.


For humor - it's hard to beat Wodehouse.

-- flora (***@__._), October 31, 1999.

I have always liked The Borrowers. They had to "bug out" in a crisis and start a life elsewhere.

-- Margaret J (janssm@aol.com), October 31, 1999.

I'm not sure I'd read J.R.R.Tolkien to my younger ones. Geez...I remember reading the books in my early twenties and there were some pretty scary parts in there...Oooooo...grin. I believe my choice for electrical outages due to weather or not are the Anne of Green Gables books. In fact, the things you may be doing in your everyday life such as canning, etc. are there for the kids to relate to.

beej

-- beej (beej@ppbbs.com), October 31, 1999.



A friend and I have been church-shopping for some time, and in one of the churches we heard an outstanding sermon on humor as a form of spiritual striving. Boy was I glad to hear that, because my friend has a tendency to put down my jokes. "Awful" and (to others) "Peter tells the worst jokes" are among the phrases often heard. Clearly what she has failed to realize is that I am just a spiritual striver doing the best he can. (The timing of the sermon was perfect, too, because I had just remembered a frightfully amusing poem about an old man fron Nantucket.)

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), November 01, 1999.

Peter, I think I'll borrow that excuse for myself. ;~)

-- number six (iam_not_a_number@hotmail.com), November 01, 1999.

My daughter and I have been reading Thoreau lately. While a very odd bird, it is remarkable how "modern" his questions were about the then- evolution of American culture. Many of our own questions go back that far and further: they have a very respectable American pedigree, if not one that has dominated the culture.

Anyway, Thoreau had a knack for peeling back some of the mechanical- ness of the choices that people make to evaluate whether or not they made life itself worth living.

I suspect that Y2K impacts might open up that type of questioning again -- to the good of not only preppers but, in the end, everyone.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), November 01, 1999.


Huckleberry Finn might be another good role model, especially for kids. Huck "made do" without complaining and just kind of coped without giving in to discouragement. He took life as he found it.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), November 01, 1999.

Laura Ingalls Wilder's _Little House_ series. Really great narrative written by a woman who's been there, done that.

-- silver ion (ag3@interlog.com), November 01, 1999.


Don't forget "Robinson Crusoe" -- Daniel Defoe. Also the Swiss Family Robinson books.

-- Carol (glear@usa.net), November 01, 1999.

I've always enjoyed reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

-- Maggie (aaa@aaa.com), November 02, 1999.

Phantom Tollbooth. Excellent book. Kid suddenly in a strange new world but handling it well enough.

-- Gus (y2kk@usa.net), November 06, 1999.

Read "The Gammage Cup" to kids. Awesome :-)

Also "The Trumpet of the Swan" by EB White.

Nothing comes close to the suspense and majesty of The Lord Of The Rings! Tolkien was just listed as one of the TOP 100 Best Spiritual Authors of the last Century.

Spiritual Books of the Century


-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), November 07, 1999.

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