The Doom of Choice

"Tell me lord," Éomer says to Aragorn, “what doom do you bring out of the North?” “The doom of choice,” said Aragorn. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien Doom is an interesting word. Webster's 10th Edition Collegiate Dictionary defines it several ways, and most of them reflect death or destruction. One reads: “To make certain the failure or destruction of.” But another is, “a law or ordinance, esp. in Anglo-Saxon England,” and another is simply, “Judgement.” William Morris (one of Tolkien's primary influences), in The Roots of the Mountains, uses the word Doom in an interesting way. The people of the story have a meeting place called a “Doom-ring,” where they meet to discuss important matters: “such as great manslayings and bloodwites, or the making of war or ending of it ... .” Doom, in this sense is more like “situation.” What's our situation? What's our doom? Loosening the definition of the word Doom helps me get inside Aragorn's answer to Éomer's question: “The doom of choice.” Choice is an interesting word too, and its significance is often underestimated. To choose one thing is, necessarily, to reject all the other options. That's where a lot of people get stuck. That potential loss is why choice can feel like a burden. But the ability to choose carries amazing power. It's the ability to unlock the potential of each moment, and shape the course of things. To choose is to bring one thing into being, and not another. It's like having the power of life and death over the details of existence. It's as simple as what flavor ice cream to choose, and as complex as how to negotiate peace between hostile nations. Both choices literally change the world, maybe not noticeably, but if one detail changes, that's change. Choosing vanilla might lead to an enjoyable ice cream experience, followed by a movie. Choosing chocolate might lead to a stained shirt, followed by a movie, then a trip to the dry cleaners the next day, where you meet your soul mate. Choice is like a chisel for sculpting the future. If you want your statue to look a certain way, then each cut makes a difference. Being aware of any and all possible consequences is important, but it's impossible to foresee them all. So being willing to accept them and work with them is vital. I consider my situation, my doom, as closely as I may, then I choose. My choice alters my situation and creates new details, with new choices. I've just changed history. Then I choose again and it starts all over. I choose again, and so on. In LOTR, the need for choice, the Doom-ness of it, is highly intensified because of the life and death situation everyone is in. But it's easy to not feel that edge in the everyday world of 21st century America. To be a person of destiny, however, is to keep that edge sharp, to feel the pressure to choose at all times, because something big hinges on the choices you make. To be a person of destiny is to be a person for whom choice is a constant doom, that is, for whom choice is always, daily, moment to moment, inevitable. “None may live now as they have lived,” Aragorn continues. The truth is, we're all in a life and death situation at every moment, we're just good at not noticing it. The power to choose can make the difference between life and a long slow, unnoticed death by creeping mediocrity. Ever forward.

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