Gollum

So, I went to the NJ Performing Arts Center to see the NJ Symphony Orchestra and the MSU choir perform parts of the score for the Lord of the Rings. Just to set foot in a theater like that was incredible. The music was amazing, and the vocals... I could go on all night. What I wanted to say here was what went through my mind when the soloist sang Gollum's Song. I remembered my dream last night. It was extensive, but there was a little bit of the dream where I was trying to talk to Gollum. He was wearing a Rutgers sweatshirt, and he wouldn't believe that I wanted to be his friend. He just wanted to sit in his misery and feel sorry for himself. When Gollum's song began, my dream flashed into my head. I listened to the lyrics, and felt my eyes welling up:

...we will weep to be so alone/ We are lost/ We can never go home// So in the end/ I'll be what I will be/ No loyal friend/ Was ever there for me// Now we say goodbye/ We say you didn't try// These tears you cry/ Have come too late/ Take back the lies/ The hurt, the blame!// And you will weep/ When you face the end alone/ You are lost/ You can never go home/ You are lost/ You can never go home...

I thought about the people I know, most being from Rutgers, and how many people there are that are like Gollum, outcasts, not necessarily as bitter as Gollum, but people who've lost friends because of a mistake, or simply the way that they are. Those people that, no matter what they do, get negative comments, get ridiculed, or made fun of. And after a while, they can only handle so much before they break. Where are their loyal friends? Where are the friends who won't simply use them to get what they want? I think that was what the dream was about. Gollums need people to befriend them. Really befriend them, not just to get something.

Its funny how a symphony orchestra can inspire life lessons.