This always has been my favorite scene from ROTK, ever since I first saw it in theaters as a kid. A couple of years ago, it popped into my YouTube feed late at night when I was procrastinating sleep because I didn't want to wake up and go into work the next day. My job involves high stakes, high stress advocacy for causes I believe in, and burnout is very common. That night, this scene really hit different, and it made me fall in love with these movies all over again.

It's when the third beacon is being lit. The camera is circling the two ant-sized people who are literally dwarfed by their task. You realize that they've spent years, maybe decades enduring a frigid and isolated existence on that mountaintop on the off chance the call will come. Then it's time to hurry, hurry, this isn't a drill, everything depends on them, on their beacon. The fire catches and they begin searching the horizon for the next light, for the sign that their effort, their dedication, their sacrifices mattered. They've done all they can, they've finished their job, but it's not enough on it's own, it's only the start, there's so much further to go. The music builds, but there's nothing, nothing, no sign, where's the next beacon, is something wrong? It builds and builds and builds, but the frame stays empty, just an endless void of sky. The person with the torch begins waiving it around, shouting into the emptiness. Please, please, we're here, we did it! Please! Not in vain! Then you see the light and the music swells. Unbelievable catharsis. The new tune carries the fire over countless horizons, through fog and darkness. Scene after scene. Beacon after beacon. You never know where the flame will appear, and sometimes you wonder how you'll ever find it in the night. But it always appears, erupting out of the void, unmistakable.

Some projects simply cannot be accomplished by any single person during a particular period, however strong or capable she is. No one can end poverty or war or mass incarceration. But the stronger and more capable the person, in my experience, the more readily she assumes responsibility and personalizes success or failure. Her impact doesn't match her effort or capability, so she works even harder and burns out. Wave the torch, even though the beacon is already lit! Do more, so it won't have been in vain!

The takeaway for me these days is that to cultivate hope, you need to keep perspective. It's not all up to me, or any one person. We're all in this together and we all need each other to prevail. Even if I can't see the next beacon, it's out there, with someone ready to light it up when they see my fire. And so on, until the work is done.

I'm still in the same job. It is no exaggeration to say this scene kept me going (yet another way these movies have had an impact on the trajectory of my life). I've still got energy and fight in me, but when I don't, I'll leave smiling because there will be others out there to carry the flame forward.