What Harry Potter taught me
I'll be honest. This wasn't what I wanted to talk about. I was going to talk about Pottermore and the quizzes and the houses and wand I was sorted into. I wasn't even going to write a post today. After all I have to leave for work in a few hours and I've only had 3 and half hours of sleep. I haven't worked out or done homework today.
As I was attempting to rest, however, I scrolled through Facebook and saw things that made my blood boil, which isn't unusual for Facebook today. There were bad talking police officers, showing police brutality, the ongoing debate between the Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter, protests, counterprotests, bad talking candidates, and perhaps most ridiculous of all, bad talking other Pokemon Go teams! SERIOUSLY?! What the hell is wrong with people? (Excuse my language.) We live in a world that has more technology that could do good than ever before, but we are so caught up in ourselves that we aren't fighting for good anymore. We are so determined to stop movements or start stupid ones. Race and police brutality are still an issue. Are all cops bad people? Absolutely not. Is racial profiling and racism an issue? One would think in 2016, the answer would be no. But that's not the case. Give a bully an outlet and they will use it. We in the geek/nerd community know this, but apparently we are just as guilty as everyone else in putting other people who don't agree with us to shame. So you know what? Shame on us. Shame on the whole world and our societies.
Which returns me to the title of this post, what Harry Potter taught me. Specifically, I'm going to focus on the top three things the series taught me.
1. Being different is okay and is perhaps our greatest strength.
When I was a kid, I was mercilessly bullied. I was beaten up and attacked to the point my parents pulled me out of school and put me in an online charter school. I thrived in that environment. I could be myself and there was no one there to make fun of me. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Malfoy, Snape, Professor Flitwick...everyone in the Harry Potter universe taught me that being different was okay. You could be smart and a goody two shoes, or reckless and loyal, or scared of spiders and that was okay. In fact, everyone brought their own strengths to the table. And those who fought against this were the BAD GUYS! I mean it wasn't as cut and dry as all that, but at its core, those who wanted one specific group of "pure people" were considered the worst of all wizarding kind. Looking at you, Tom Riddle. Racism was exemplified as something that was intolerable to think of and everyone was welcome.
2. Sometimes authority is wrong and we have to stand up for those that can't do it for themselves.
Okay, Barty Crouch may have been one of the worst Ministers of Magic ever. Can we all agree? Okay, good. Moving on. Instead of slandering his name, what did Dumbledore's Army do? They directly confronted him and told him to get his stuff together. They stood up for what they believed in and decided it was time for a change. Instead of whining or slandering his name, they DID something. It ended up violent, yes. But it was a fantasy book! A fictional story! Let's take the moral of the story and move on with our lives. Let's do something. Let's fight racism, hatred, and all of the horrible things happening. Let the presidential candidates duke it out themselves. I'm not going to take some random meme on Facebook seriously. Let protesters protest. That's kind of their right according to the Constitution. Let people choose and decide based on logical arguments. Not what their friends are doing. Moving on.
3. Finally, Harry Potter taught me that at the end of the day, we are all human.
No matter what happens to us, there will always be those that stand in the way of free thinking. BUT we are all human, we make mistakes. Say and do things we never meant to say or do. We all suffer and lose those that are close to us. In the end, even the "bad guys" have some good qualities. The hardest part of being human, whether wizard or Muggle, is letting go of things that aren't important and standing up for things that are. Don't just be a bystander to the world at large. Don't just spread cute pictures on social media to "fight the negativity". DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Break the stereotypes, excel, and make the world a better place.
We are the Potter generation. We can fight poverty and injustice. Volunteer, even if it is only for one event. Unfriend those people who make cruel comments. Don't just stand by and let the Lucius Malfoys of the world take it over. Vote. Blog. Podcast. Spread the idea that we as a group aren't going to stand for racism, sexism, terrorism, or any other -ism that is threatening to tear our world down. Our generation has lived through 15 years of the War on Terror. 15 years of terrorist attacks, racism, radical agendas, and scandals. While not all of us can fight terrorists head on, we can work on changing the attitudes of people at home in our backyards. The biggest thing I can say that Harry Potter taught me was that it is okay to be human because humans are beautiful creatures. It's not okay to be an asshole. Just food for thought.
Mariah
As I was attempting to rest, however, I scrolled through Facebook and saw things that made my blood boil, which isn't unusual for Facebook today. There were bad talking police officers, showing police brutality, the ongoing debate between the Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter, protests, counterprotests, bad talking candidates, and perhaps most ridiculous of all, bad talking other Pokemon Go teams! SERIOUSLY?! What the hell is wrong with people? (Excuse my language.) We live in a world that has more technology that could do good than ever before, but we are so caught up in ourselves that we aren't fighting for good anymore. We are so determined to stop movements or start stupid ones. Race and police brutality are still an issue. Are all cops bad people? Absolutely not. Is racial profiling and racism an issue? One would think in 2016, the answer would be no. But that's not the case. Give a bully an outlet and they will use it. We in the geek/nerd community know this, but apparently we are just as guilty as everyone else in putting other people who don't agree with us to shame. So you know what? Shame on us. Shame on the whole world and our societies.
Which returns me to the title of this post, what Harry Potter taught me. Specifically, I'm going to focus on the top three things the series taught me.
1. Being different is okay and is perhaps our greatest strength.
When I was a kid, I was mercilessly bullied. I was beaten up and attacked to the point my parents pulled me out of school and put me in an online charter school. I thrived in that environment. I could be myself and there was no one there to make fun of me. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Malfoy, Snape, Professor Flitwick...everyone in the Harry Potter universe taught me that being different was okay. You could be smart and a goody two shoes, or reckless and loyal, or scared of spiders and that was okay. In fact, everyone brought their own strengths to the table. And those who fought against this were the BAD GUYS! I mean it wasn't as cut and dry as all that, but at its core, those who wanted one specific group of "pure people" were considered the worst of all wizarding kind. Looking at you, Tom Riddle. Racism was exemplified as something that was intolerable to think of and everyone was welcome.
2. Sometimes authority is wrong and we have to stand up for those that can't do it for themselves.
Okay, Barty Crouch may have been one of the worst Ministers of Magic ever. Can we all agree? Okay, good. Moving on. Instead of slandering his name, what did Dumbledore's Army do? They directly confronted him and told him to get his stuff together. They stood up for what they believed in and decided it was time for a change. Instead of whining or slandering his name, they DID something. It ended up violent, yes. But it was a fantasy book! A fictional story! Let's take the moral of the story and move on with our lives. Let's do something. Let's fight racism, hatred, and all of the horrible things happening. Let the presidential candidates duke it out themselves. I'm not going to take some random meme on Facebook seriously. Let protesters protest. That's kind of their right according to the Constitution. Let people choose and decide based on logical arguments. Not what their friends are doing. Moving on.
3. Finally, Harry Potter taught me that at the end of the day, we are all human.
No matter what happens to us, there will always be those that stand in the way of free thinking. BUT we are all human, we make mistakes. Say and do things we never meant to say or do. We all suffer and lose those that are close to us. In the end, even the "bad guys" have some good qualities. The hardest part of being human, whether wizard or Muggle, is letting go of things that aren't important and standing up for things that are. Don't just be a bystander to the world at large. Don't just spread cute pictures on social media to "fight the negativity". DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Break the stereotypes, excel, and make the world a better place.
We are the Potter generation. We can fight poverty and injustice. Volunteer, even if it is only for one event. Unfriend those people who make cruel comments. Don't just stand by and let the Lucius Malfoys of the world take it over. Vote. Blog. Podcast. Spread the idea that we as a group aren't going to stand for racism, sexism, terrorism, or any other -ism that is threatening to tear our world down. Our generation has lived through 15 years of the War on Terror. 15 years of terrorist attacks, racism, radical agendas, and scandals. While not all of us can fight terrorists head on, we can work on changing the attitudes of people at home in our backyards. The biggest thing I can say that Harry Potter taught me was that it is okay to be human because humans are beautiful creatures. It's not okay to be an asshole. Just food for thought.
Mariah
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