3,000 Years of Practice
What Sam & Galadriel teach us about purpose & living the long game • Character References
People Watching explores what it looks like to be a flourishing human through the relationships that shape us. I share conversations from real folks about the role models they’ve found in their everyday lives, and “character references” from historical, fictional, and contemporary folks who shed light on what it looks like to live with purpose in any age.1
True confession: when it comes to Lord of the Rings, Frodo (the literal, actual main character) has never been my favorite. It’s always been Sam.
I love that Samwise Gamgee has this bedrock knowledge of self; he knows exactly who he is. This knowledge isn’t arrogance, but rather, a hidden confidence: he sees through the seductive promises of the Ring because he knows what he actually wants (his garden, his home, Rosie). This knowing enables him to stay true to the why of the quest, when Frodo can’t see or remember it.
My other favorite character is Galadriel of Lorien. I love her humility. It’s hard-won but it’s true. She knows what it’s like to do things for the wrong or misdirected reason, and by the time we meet her, she’s lived into her purpose for so long. Frodo offering the ring was a test that truly tempted her, but her memory and her purpose were solid enough enough to anchor a real and costly choice.
What connects these two characters is fidelity: to purpose, to integrity, to living the long game, three thousand years of it, in Galadriel’s case. They show us what it looks like to practice choosing purpose.
Who models this for you?
Let’s be hopeful, creative, and wise—together.
Shalom,
