Gandalf's Wisdom for the Frodo in Us All

You can find wisdom anywhere...
  if you are watching for it.

Last night, I was watching the Lord of the Rings.
  In the moment that Frodo realizes he must travel
  a very dangerous road, he tells Gandalf that
  he wished he had never seen the ring,
  and that he was back in the safety of his home.

Gandalf looked at him with compassion and said,
  'Whether to live in these times
   is not for us to decide.
   All we have to decide is
   what we will do with the time
   that is given us.'

I was profoundly affected by these words,
  for I often feel so powerless and small
  in the face of the avenging god, Climate Change.

I find myself wishing that it was 1970 again,
  and that I was safe at home, climbing trees
  and building forts.

Or, I try to ignore what is happening outside my door
  and go about life 'as usual'.

As if I can ignore
  the shifting of the earth beneath my feet;

As if I can pretend
  the earth
  is not burning up our food,
  is not flooding our homes,
  is not killing people with its murderous heat...

I, like Frodo,
  want desperately for things to
  NOT
  be as they are.

But, Gandalf speaks to us all
  when he says
  it was not for us to decide to be here
  at this moment in time,
  but that it is for us to decide
  just what we will do with the time
  we have been given.

And, I wonder...
  Is it possible that we are here
  at this turning point in the history of humanity
  precisely
  because we are the ones that
  CAN
  do something about the crisis?

Is it possible that we are uniquely equipped
  to make this harsh and frightening journey
  even though we feel small and insignificant?

Is it possible that regular people like you and I
  hold, in our hearts, the answers
  to this terrible crisis?

Is it possible that, like Frodo,
  we just have to set foot upon this path
  and trust that, somehow, someway,
  we can find our way through it?