I came across the most splendid metaphor

About alternative facts.

 

Through history, there comes a way for men

By their various moral presumptions

To assume a new, alternative fact.

Looking through the internet

I saw one call Sam from the Lord of the Rings

The true hero of the story.

 

A clever thought crossed through my mind.

What if the Hobbits and Middle Earth

After several decades of striving

Decided that their culture wasn’t right

And decided to now make Samwise

The lauded hero of the War of the Rings.

We are kin to do it, are we not?

It makes sense.

 

Sam was not crazy.

Sam technically carried the burden to the point

Where it was destroyed.

Gollum technically destroyed the ring

In his lust for it,

By biting off Frodo’s fingers.

But, Sam, also, nurtured Frodo

Through various battlegrounds

Where the Shell Shock

And the corrupting influence of the Ring of Power

Tore Frodo’s mind to shreds.

 

Sam now is lauded the Hero

For Frodo’s disturbed mental state.

And nasty and vicious rumors appear

About how Frodo beat Sam

On the flight of stairs of Cirith Ungol

Leading to the realm of Mordor,

Accused Sam of stealing the ring,

And with all intents and purposes

Desired the ring’s power.

Of course, it would be tempting for future

Human civilizations to laud Sam instead of Frodo.

 

However, Frodo carried the worst burden.

A metaphor for Tolkien’s own battles with PTSD.

After serving in World War I,

Tolkien had to carry the moral burden

Of communicating the evil of what he saw

And the meaning of the War of the Ring.

WWI was the War of the Ring.

And Frodo carried the burden of its meaning.

This is why Sam is not the true hero.