The Order of the Phoenix

Have you ever met someone you has not read Harry Potter? If you have, I am sure you have felt the red hot desire to force their eyes open and drag a copy of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" in front of them. (For all who own the book, please read page 592; if you replace the remedies with not reading the book, then Mrs. Weasley can represent all of our frustration at Anti-Potters.) I suspect that very few of you, however, have had a close friend who hasn't even read more than three chapters of the first book. Probably some of you find the very idea disgraceful. Maybe you will make exceptions in religion, in politics, even in education, but J.K. Rowling is just going too far. My purpose in this situation is to explain to you what it is like to care deeply about someone with whom you disagree on such a basic level. Your parents may have talked about comprising on fashion sense, or humor, but as I hope you all know, anyone who has never read Hermione's devilishly accurate interpretations of Cho Chang's inner turmoil cannot possibly understand love. Or can they?

My best friend N is bored by magic, bored by Hagrid, and bored by the worst first chapter in the history of a good book series. Who can blame her for that last one? The best thing to do is to speed through it without taking the time to interpret the meaning. Still, I can't deny that it is troubling that N did not have the stick-to-itiveness to make it through the muddle and reach McGonagall's chess game. It makes me wonder if she has the stick-to-itiveness necessary for our long distance friendship. Unless we are together, we don't talk much, although it is pretty amazing that we stayed friends, even on a once-a-year basis. Harry Potter can teach a person so much about themselves, and about life, but that doesn't mean that his creator is the Messiah. J.K. Rowling, though a brilliant and gifted woman, cannot possibly teach us everything about the world, because we each have our own part to play. We can take the "Which House Are You In?" quizzes online (Hufflepuff, thank you), but they can't tell us which colleges will accept us. We can look for clues as to which situations self defense works best in, but we can't match each moment to a page.

Not everyone believes each word in the Bible, nor the Qu'ran, nor the Vedas, nor the Torah, etc. Not everyone can see the subtle truth in the fantastical world of Harry Potter. Still, they can touch the world with as many fingers as the rest of us.