why i love harry potter

“No story lives unless someone wants to listen. The stories we love best do live in us forever. So whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” 
― J.K. Rowling

today is jk rowlings' birthday. in honour of that, i decided to write about why i love harry potter. this post is very self-satisfying. because i truly love harry potter. 

a recent study showed that harry potter teaches children to stand up for marginalized people and to fight against bigotry. 

"[...] researchers credited the books with improving the readers' ability to assume the perspective of marginalized groups. They also claimed that young children, with the help of a teacher, were able to understand that Harry's frequent support of "mudbloods" was an allegory towards bigotry in real-life society." http://mic.com/articles/95236/psychologists-find-a-surprising-thing-happens-to-kids-who-read-harry-potter

when i was in university, i found myself in my first real bout of depression. only i didn't know what was going on. i simply knew that i was sad, lonely, and alone. 

“Facing this stuff, in real life is not like school, in school, if you make a mistake you can just try again tomorrow, but out there...when your a second away from being murdered or watching a friend die right before your eyes...you don't know what that's like.” 
― J.K. Rowling

i was living in a city far from home - on the other end of the country in fact. and for christmas i received the first harry potter book which i read in 2 days. 

there were only 3 books at the time and i spent the next 6 months reading them cover to cover over and over again. escaping into the world of harry potter got me through those long 8 months of school and through my depression. 

my family began buying me harry potter items until i amassed a room full of paraphernalia.  

harry potter taught the true meaning of friendship. 

it taught that love endures.

“He must have known I'd want to leave you."
"No, he must have known you would always want to come back.” 
― J.K. Rowling

harry potter taught that friends stick together and can accomplish anything. harry, ron, and hermione become friends while defeating a mountain troll - something that brought them together. 

“There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other.” 
― J.K. Rowling,
pain ...

“I DON'T CARE!" Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!"
"You do care," said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Harry demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.” 
― J.K. Rowling

harry potter, though a fantasy world, dealt with real emotions and real situations like death and loss. harry experiences hormonal changes, the death of his parents, the death of his godfather, the loss of important people in his life. and dumbledore expresses is so succinctly "you care so mcuh you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it." ... that feeling of caring so much that it hurts. that's a feeling we all have at some point in our lives. as well as the feeling of wanting to give up. 

“We can't choose our fate, but we can choose others. Be careful in knowing that.” 
― J.K. Rowling

our actions and our choices impact other people's lives. we choose the fate of other people's lives by the ways that we choose to interact with them. 

“We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.” 
― J.K. Rowling

our choices and actions define us as people. we are all capable of horrors, but most of us choose not to play out those horrors. 

harry potter is the ultimate battle between light and dark. more so than star wars even, in my humble opinion. the characters are constantly faced with opportunities to turn to the dark side or to turn to the light side. even draco malfoy's mother finds redemption in her love for her son. 

neville longbottom ...

"Neville understands that it’s not about being loud and brash every day, it’s about picking your battles and knowing what’s dear and worth fighting for." - EMILY ASHER-PERRIN


from the very beginning, neville picks his battles, stands up for what is right, and embraces the heroic. neville holds all of harry's secrets and could choose to betray him, but instead continues his role of hero right to the very end. 

for more on neville as hero, see http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/11/neville-longbottom-is-the-most-important-person-in-harry-potter


harry potter taught us: 

• to never judge people. snape, for example, was the ultimate villain from the first book, and yet he turned out to be the ultimate sacrificing hero. 
• friendship and bravery are more important that cleverness. 
• never lose sight of the future that you want to have. 
• there is always light, even in the darkest times.
• love is powerful. 
• friendship is more important than brute strength. 

i remember seeing the first movie for the very first time. it was like the magical fantasy world and story that meant so much to me was up on the large screen, come to life for me to lose myself in all over again. 

i continue to love harry potter. it continues to be an escape from reality into an incredibly detailed world. a world that will always feel real to me. 

in closing ... here are 2 pieces of advice:


“Never tickle a sleeping dragon.” 
― J.K. Rowling

and

“One can never have enough socks” 
― J.K. Rowling

be kind to yourself, 

xoxo

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