The Breaking of the Fellowship...of the Oura Ring

A cautionary tale about trauma and the role of technology in helping us cope.

Today? A palate-cleanser of a column…but we might learn about PTSD too.

It was on the sixth day of January, the 4th Age, when the fellowship finally reached the precipice of the beginning of the start of the departure gate of the next leg of their appointed journey.

The weary travelers approached a giant building, epic in proportions, made of stone and glass. It towered above them.

“Is this the port for the air that you spoke of?” Owen asked of Carlene.

“Yes, of course it is. I have pre-check, and you didn’t get it in time,” the wise, if exasperated, Carlene replied.

“Dearest me,” I explained, only now recognizing the weight of my folly.

Flashing back to the days and weeks prior, I had made a terrible mistake. When the council met in Rivendell, we decided that the ring needed to be returned. This was going to be a long trip. Elrond asked if all of us had pre-check. At the gates of the airport—the Lord Half-Elven noted, things would be much delayed without this crucial preparation.

I…