I haven’t replaced my phone in a long time. It’s an iPhone 4; by now it’s so old that I can’t update it, most of the apps have deleted themselves, and what is left works inconsistently. I know that I should replace it, but most of the core features work just enough that I am too lazy to do anything. One of the few things that does work (98% of the time) is the news app, so I use it a lot. Yesterday, that app pulled up a story about a Filipino fisherman who had discovered a 75-pound pearl and kept it under his bed for a decade.

I’m not sure why exactly the first image that popped into my head was of a full grown man going full gollum on a pearl larger than most babies. I’d like to blame the fact that I had just gotten up, so I was probably not completely out of whatever dream I’d been forced to leave. Also there was just one picture of the fisherman standing next to the pearl looking like a grandmother at graduation so I had no real material to work with. Still, it was a fun image, and the facts worked out just a little too perfectly. It was easy to see the man chance on the pearl, then wrap it up in his nets and drag it home at night when no one was looking. Once every full moon he would lift back the sheets and whisper stories to the pearl of the sea and the fish back under the waves.

Of course, this is all pretty harmless as long as the pearl doesn’t talk back. Many people have precious possessions that they choose not to show others, many of which aren’t worth millions of dollars and so aren’t at risk of theft. People keep photos, letters, souvenirs, and much more hidden away regardless of value and without showing anyone. These things, though far less financially valuable than 170,000 carat pearl, still have significant value as long as they remain totally ours. The moment a worthless knick-knack is displayed someone can confirm its lack of worth, but while tucked away in attics and at the bottom of boxes these little collections remain precious.

There is no way the fisherman did not know the value of that pearl and, whatever his reasons were, he still chose to keep it. People can keep things out of fear, shame, guilt, greed; they can stash away memories only dusting them off for rare occasions. But sometimes people keep things simply because. I can’t remember if it is in the books, but in the movies Sam carries salt from the Shire with him all the way to Mordor and tells no one. When climbing down a cliff, Frodo discovers the salt. He tells Sam that he is right, the salt is special because it is from home; it’s like carrying a piece of the Shire with them. But I’m curious if he would have had the same response at the gates of Mordor, or within them. Mordor seems like a place filled with those who either have nothing, or are unable to let go of one last thing. In fact, by the time they enter Sam may be the only one within Mordor’s borders keeping something safe simply out of love.

Value isn’t just subjective; it is amplified by personal connection. In a warzone, seasoning is probably reasonably valuable. Multiple storytelling mediums have indicated to me that war reduces the quality of food, and not being one to contradict MASH I’ve accepted this as fact. This would indicate that Sam’s salt is actually of great value regardless of setting. But that value is not what Frodo gives it, or the reason Sam carries it with him. That pearl is worth millions of dollars; more money that I’ve seen in my life. The physical existence of that much cash could probably crush me to death. But it also seems pretty clear that it has another value as well, one only the man who kept it under his bed for a decade can speak to.