Quote of the Week...from Gandalf in Lord of the Rings

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.            
                                               ---Gandalf the Grey from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

In J.R.R. Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of his Lord of the Rings fantasy series from the 1950s, protagonist Frodo is bemoaning the horrible succession of events after his uncle Bilbo Baggins gave him the "Ring of Power".  The good wizard Gandalf's reply is sympathetic, and he concludes it with the above quote.  Storms and trials will always be with us and at times will seem turbulent and painful.  But through all of them...as well as the good times...each of us has the authority, as well as responsibility, to be stewards of the time allotted to us in our respective lives.  I think of some tough times I've gone through in years gone by and have come to the conclusion that it wasn't the difficulty of the crises I passed through that I had grounds to grieve over, but rather my responses to them.  All of these things currently going on around me in the news are bigger than me, and I am just one person.  Granted this fact, I still live in these times and have the authority to act in a positive, constructive way that...at a future time looking back...I will not be ashamed of.  May I just humbly suggest that others take this advice to heart as well for themselves?