We all have a movie scene, lyric, quote, or something similar that lives rent free in our heads. For me there are two: One is from Casablanca, and the other from the LOTR Two Towers. As the uruk-hai descend on Helms Deep, Theoden falls into hopelessness. He had hoped the stronghold would hold out and not fall, but as the hoard beats down the door, and death’s stench fills the room, he cannot help but let his hope fall into despair. He says, perhaps to know one, “So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate?” 

Aragorn responds, “Ride with me. Ride out and meet them.” Theoden puffs up, “For death and glory?” “No,” Aragorn says, “For Rohan, for your people.” Reminding Theoden who he is fighting for. Gimli, noticing a light, “The sun is rising.” And it is here that Aragorn is remind, “Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the east.”

By the time this Monday Morning Joe airs, we should be making our turn toward the Christmas season. A time of hope. A time when the sun sets before we have left our offices, yet hope shines from houses and buildings, decorated in light.

It is a season where light and dark struggle for dominance, a struggle that lasts for months. Yet, we all have hope that the bleak winters will give way to a new spring. Darkness eventually gives way to light.

To continue my Tolkien theme, there is a scene in the Hobbit novel where The Company must traverse through the dark woods of Mirkwood. As they travel through the woods, they feel the pressure of the darkness, longing for light. We all come to a point where we feel trapped in our own Mirkwood.