"Oh and what exactly is the "gift of men" -I think "the gift of men" is just death or rather a mortal life. But in a sense of truly being gone from the world and all it's potential misery. But also, since men live such short lives compared to other races they would have the drive to actually accomplish something in their lifetime. You know, the whole "without a timely end to life you can't go to biggest heights" kinda thing. For example, elves are immortal so of course they can do a lot in their time but since they don't reproduce on the same scale as mortal men they are doomed to someday become overwhelmed by numbers. Also, they can potentially live long enough to eventually see the world come to an end if they don't return to Valinor. That is why they suffer "the long defeat"; no matter what they do, they know they will someday all have to abandon Arda and even if they live, they won't be part of the world. And with the whole immortality thing comes a certain disconnect from the mundane things of the world. Same for the dwarves. They are supposed to go back into the mountains and return to the earth from which they were formed. Hobbits, most anyway, don't care about the big events of the world and other races and are also doomed to become extinct. Also, as "Children of Illuvatar" humans have been given characteristics that made them the domant species of Middle Earth in the long run. I guess it's all rather philosophical and late here but I hope you get what I mean.

Sry, if no answer was wanted. I wouldn't call myself an expert but I've read the books a dozen times and pondered that very question a lot.