Harry Potter is everywhere right now what with the release of the final installment of the films, but while most are focused on the end of a franchise (so to speak) and the continuation of a love of a series, I've been more focused on what we can learn from Harry Potter and all of his wizarding pals.
Why do people love Harry Potter and his story? Why do you love it?
Could it be that people yearn for a world in which the underdog triumphs over the monolithic power of tyranny? Where good always triumphs over evil? A world where people are filled with the passion of a cause and of friendship?
Interestingly enough, it's probably all of these things. For some reason we as people limit ourselves to believing that great friendship and love, triumph over evil, and breaking free from tyranny can only really happen in movies. But that subject will have to wait for another time because I have something else in mind.
Grindelwald. Gellert Grindelwald. For the greater good.
Grindelwald is in my opinion one of the most interesting characters in the seventh Harry Potter book, if not in the whole series. He's a youth with too much ambition and too little morality. He's a dark wizard second only to Lord Voldemort himself. He, in the end, redeems himself slightly by lying to Lord Voldemort about the location of the Elder Wand. All in all, he's a very in-depth character.
His relationship with Dumbledore is both interesting and puzzling as well. Dumbledore completely bought into Grindelwald's plans for the greater good. You and I reading the story probably thought about how dumb, how naive Dumbledore was in his youth.
But in reality, we don't have much room to talk.
As I completed my Sunday morning routine of eating breakfast while I read select portions of the paper before I get ready for church, I read an opinion line comment that said, "If the rich are the ones who create jobs, what kind of a job are they doing? There are no jobs. Let's get the rich on the ball and do something for our country. Create jobs -- or let's raise their taxes for the benefit of the country."
Now there are a lot of things wrong with that statement, but I'd like to focus on that last part -- "or let's raise their taxes for the benefit of the country" -- sound familiar?
For the greater good. For the benefit of our country.
It's not the desire to make things better that's at fault here. It's the desire to make things better at the expense of someone else that is immoral and unjust.
Now I could go on and on about all of the minor workings of what exactly is wrong with this and why it's wrong, but that's not really the point at the moment. My point is why do we insist on separating our beliefs into categories? Why is it alright to believe one thing in a story and a different thing in life? Why is it acceptable to hold to one standard at home and another at work? What happened to consistency? What happened to moral rectitude and a firm set of beliefs? What happened to common sense and logic?
You will most definitely get more on this topic although whether or not Harry will be involved again is undecided at the moment, but for now I just wanted to get everyone thinking...
So, what inconsistencies to you hold to so firmly in your own lives that might need a little bit of rethinking?
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