“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” - Albus Dumbledore
Halloween marked two years since my beloved grandfather passed away. Yes, on Halloween. The year it happened was quite a mess and only a few people knew about it. I had a party with about 50 people at my apartment that night, found out he passed away earlier that day while trying to prepare, and had a ticket to fly to Israel the next morning for the funeral. God works in funny ways. I think the party helped me take my mind off of the fact that I had lost my last living grandparent that day.
One of my favorite memories of him was the last time he visited the States in 1998. He and my grandmother flew 13 hours from Israel to celebrate my sister's wedding and my Bat Mitzvah. Can you imagine the stress of my mother planning both, while taking care of my grandparents?! Not many women could handle that, yet she did with her usual grace and humility.
He was one of the smartest men I have ever known, with the most contagious belly laugh imaginable- certainly my father's father. Constantly asking me multiplication questions, traveling the world for business, swimming in the Mediterranean every morning, and fluent in at least five languages. At that point only the first Harry Potter- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, was published. I have this vivid memory (stored in my pensive ;) ) of coming downstairs in the morning only to see my grandfather, a wrinkled man of 85 at the time, bright eyed and anxious to flip to the next chapter of the wizarding world of Harry Potter. He read the book, in a language fourth or fifth from his native, in three days. He was just as fascinated by J.K Rowling's imagination, imagery and ideas as I was, 60 years his junior. I will go ahead and venture to guess that if you don't like Harry Potter, your imagination is not of the whimsical kind, and you are definitely not a Sagittarius.
As part one of the 7th installment comes out next week, I thought I'd write this post for him. He would have loved to continue reading the tales and watching the movies as much as my father and I do. I was in high school when the first two films came out. I went with my dad, Thursday night at midnight, along with all of the other witches and wizards who dressed up for the movie. I missed school the next morning, but the time spent with my dad was priceless. For the following two films, I drove home from college to once again view the Thursday midnight showing with my dad. For numbers five and six, you guessed it, two adults, waiting in a two hour line, to go see the fantastic adventures of Ron, Hermione and Harry.
What is it about Harry Potter that we love so much? Aside from the remarkable imagination of the story itself, Harry Potter sends out a powerful message. I stumbled across a blog that listed the most prevalent themes in Harry Potter:
1.Love is the most powerful force in the world
2.Objective morality (there is good, there is evil)
3.There is a battle between good and evil
4. We must choose a side
5.We should choose the good
Click here to see the blog.
For a children's book, this wisdom is invaluable to any age. Love is certainly the most powerful force in the world. When we lose someone, the pain is unspeakable. It is not only emotional but also physical. For true love, no obstacle is too great to overcome. If I have learned one thing about love, it is that it is unconditional. And when there are conditions, it is simply not true love. My father told me a long time ago, that when you really love someone, you even love the things you don't like. There is no such thing as "I love you, BUT..."
In Harry's case, it is the love his parents had for him that kept him alive when Voldemort wanted to kill him. It is the love he has for his friends and family that helps him defy the Death Eaters time after time. I can not think of a couple with a love more powerful than my parents. Affection, Attention, Appreciation, Affirmation, Adoration, Affinity... the list goes on, from A-Z. Every couple has their qualms, problems and annoying tendencies. Harry and I have learned together that love is certainly hard work. Yet Harry, who could have succumbed to Voldemort and the temptation of taking the easy way out, personifies unconditional love.
I am looking forward to the second to last midnight premier of Harry Potter that I will see with my dad. While there are hundreds of other midnight premiers we will attend, the last Harry Potter will close a chapter that has lasted almost 13 years, but my memories with my father, and my father's father, will be as strong as Harry's scar.
Other Harry Potter quotes I keep close:
After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. ~Albus Dumbledore
Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain. ~Arthur Weasley
It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. ~Albus Dumbledore
If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. ~Sirius Black
Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. ~Albus Dumbledore
You place too much importance... on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! ~ Albus Dumbledore
Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open. ~Albus Dumbledore
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. ~Albus Dumbledore
It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. ~Albus Dumbledore
The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with caution. ~Albus Dumbledore
Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here! ~Albus Dumbledore
The best of us must sometimes eat our words. ~Albus Dumbledore
If you're holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time. ~Albus Dumbledore
Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy. ~Albus Dumbledore
What's comin' will come and we'll meet it when it does. ~Hagrid
Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike. ~Albus Dumbledore
People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right. ~Albus Dumbledore
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