Lew Welch reminds us that while doing something utterly necessary and ordinary, we should pause for a moment and say aloud, So it has all come to this!

If, in so doing, you find yourself feeling a bit like the battle-weary Theoden on the walls of Helm’s Deep, and not just someone boiling water or folding laundry, this is not entirely a bad thing. The greatest battles of our lives are often fought in the trivial and quotidian muck.

And not in passivity, but in careful observance. We are both architect and resident. We are perp and victim. Attend! So it has come to this.