R: Leave the Shire

“It’s a dangerous business, going out your door,” says Bilbo Baggins in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The Hobbit follows the narrative structure that Joseph Campbell called “the hero’s journey:” the hero, Bilbo, lives a peaceful life until an inciting incident calls him to adventure, forcing him to leave the comforts of the Shire for a harsh land of unknowns. For the purposes of our debate, life in the Shire is representative of three characteristics (three “p”s, perhaps): it is peaceful, predictable, and moves at a gradual pace. Life outside the Shire, then, is the opposite of these characteristics: risky, unpredictable, and fast-paced.

The negative will extol the virtues of a slow-moving, quiet life. Risks are necessary some of the time, certainly, but are not to be sought out for their own sake. God calls us to live “quiet and peaceable lives in all Godliness and dignity” (1 Timothy 2:2), not to constantly seek out new adventures and exotic experiences. Predictability, too, is core to the conservative life: a consistent person is a trustworthy and dependable person. We need to be creatures of routine and consistency to build lasting families, institutions, and relationships. Finally, we must reject modernity’s insistence on speed and efficiency. In music terms, we should live our lives Andante, at walking speed. It is a poor life spent hurrying through our days and years like fugitives thinking only about the next place, the next person, the next experience. We should be eager to develop permanent ties to the soil, ambling through our own Middle-Earth as the hobbits did, at a leisurely three miles per hour, stopping frequently for second and third breakfast along the way.

The affirmative will reject this vision of Shire life as an unrealistic dream fueled by too much hobbit pipe-weed. How will we appreciate the beauty and variety of creation if we do not take risks and seek out new experiences? It is not conservatism but a shriveled kind of traditionalism that causes us to shy away from novelty and change. Furthermore, the conservative should be reliable but not predictable. One can keep one’s promises while subverting expectations, bucking trends, and going off the beaten path. Great stories may begin and end by a comfortable hearth in Hobbiton, but the interesting part of the story is the danger and drama in faraway lands. Part of maturity is maintaining meaningful friendships while moving from place to place as career and curiosity dictate, seeking out the best opportunities wherever they may be. We should live not at a plodding Andante but a lively Allegro, aiming to accomplish Godly goals with swiftness and efficiency.

Does this house favor the cautious Bilbo or the aggressive Boromir? Would we take life at three miles per hour or eighty-five? Do we wish to put down roots in a single peaceful place or set sail for distant shores?