“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

A few months ago, I talked to my wife about how lucky I felt. I’ve lived this bizarre Zelig-like life in which incredible things just keep happening around me, and I’ve had more adventures and fun than I ever could have hoped or deserved. And now I’m living through all of this. It is not an adventure and it is not fun, but if it claims me (which is unlikely even in the worst of circumstances, a fact all of us need to keep in mind), I will have little to complain about. Even as this darkness closes in, I feel grateful.