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i was pondering 30bad today. it's been about a year that i've been here because of an invitation extended by my good friend bigG. within that year, much has happened. some friends have departed. new friends have appeared. many initiatives have been undertaken.

some recent events triggered ideas i hadn't viewed in quite the same way as before. i often wondered why people here are so passionate about this place. why do they find this an oasis of sanity? why do they regard dr and freelee in such high esteem? even when they can't handle the obvious nobility here, why do they view it with envy from a distance and keep wanting to come back, or at least lurk clandestinely?

i think people view 30bad the way they do because of a yearning deep within from the best in us, to be the best we can be as individuals and as a species.

similar societies existed in the past, but i think one that may illustrate ours would be tolkien's wonderful and mystical lothlorien.


what lothlorien was

it was the golden wood of mallorn trees - a place of beauty, peace and learning where time seemed to stand still protected by celeborn and galadriel through her ring nenya.

when frodo first came there he described it thus:

It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lorien there was no stain.

lothlorien was the waking dream of the elves that would fade forever from middle earth.


look at yourselves

it hasn't faded forever, it has only been reborn.
yes look at yourselves as did frodo look on lothlorien!

you'll see light and shapes of health, fresh and poignant in the bodies of the inhabitants. you'll see truths that are clear cut, conceived in ancient times and enduring forever in their minds. you'll see no true heart ever mourning, because the way of this life has no blemish or sickness or deformity.

you kill no creature, you abuse no being. rather you defend the right of the weak and helpless to exist. you protect their interests as though these were your very own. there is no stain.

i am always amused when i see a thread like hottest guy/gal popping up here.
why do we need celebrity - when we already have celeborn's likeness here.
why do we want galas - when we have galadriel's image and power all around us.
go here and you'll see what i mean.


what lothlorian is

how is it that such beauty in thought and body and action continues here?

the answer is that here there are worthy values maintained and nurtured through commitment and vision.

here there is honesty instead of compromise.
here there is dedication instead of convenience.
here there is education instead of ignorance.
here there are the highest of standards instead of self-deception.

lothorian is indeed reborn here.
    
we have our celeborn - but he rides the earth by the name of dr.
we have our galadriel - but she humbly disguises herself as freelee.

and nenya is our commitment and connection to each other and the timeless values of health and compassion.

the power of this ring will repel the abscess and abyss of mordor and all of that ilk.

the woods remain golden and eternally so.

in friendship,
prad