But here is mine.
I myself found the Middle-Earth being a mirror reflection our world with all its problems and dilemmas. The reflection might not resemble its model as faithfully as to the physical appearance, but it does as to the essence. We do not have the Dwarves here, but we posses their desire for the precious things, e.g. for gold and silver. We have never got in touch with the Elves, although we still meet virtuous and wise people. There are not any who look like the Orcs, but can we say that there are not those who behave like them? I just wish there is more of the Elvis kind and less goblin like. But in general, if we compare all the folks from the Middle-Earth with our mankind, we come to a conclusion that the majority of us are undoubtedly like the Hobbits in most of their features. We are neither black nor white, we are always a mixture of those two elements. There is an eternal fight between the good and evil going on within us, a struggle amount our virtues and our vices. By all means we ought to help the former so it can prevail.
Let's look at the parallels with the Hobbits. Just like them, we live quietly in our own Shires and enjoy all the comfort we have. We do not bother ourselves with the problems that do not have a direct impact upon our lives. We do not like any disturbance, any sort of uncertainty. We think we have the inalienable right to everything we posses, that we deserve it. All we long for is to live a comfortable life and to be sure that tomorrow we will not have less than we have now. How modest, isn't it? We expect everything to be in its own place, all right, why not, but don't we take it for granted? Why do we become so indifferent? We do not want to care about things that do not touch our lives personally. Unless something comes straight into our way and wakes us up, we are wrapped up in our tiny little problems and miss the important things. But it is dangerous, the evil things never sleep.
If we stop guarding the good things, the evil might start to play the major part and overcome us. Or wasn't it the same thing, when the Hobbits were just as happy in their Shire as they could be while the Dark Lord was gaining power in the land of Mordor? Nobody wanted to hear about it, since one had enough bread, dry shelter, and some entertainment? Until the real danger showed up. First then, the responsible ones became alarmed and stepped out of their comfortable lives. They collected all the courage and though being well aware of the perils, still they set off for their journey before it was too late.