Five Life Lessons from Harry Potter
After reading the entire Harry Potter series (I finished book seven Saturday afternoon—21 July 2007), it occurred to me that there were several really, really excellent life lessons. While there are countless truisms and lessons throughout the Harry Potter series, these five “lessons” represent, IMHO, the concepts of how a meaningful life can be achieved. 1. Sometimes, you just have to find out things on your own. This painful lesson is often skirted by parents and loved ones in the name of “protection”. If, for example, someone you love (see #5) is about to do something that YOU, from experience, know will be harmful, the first thought is to help them avoid it. But what good does that really do? Ignoring the someone doesn’t work either, as Dumbledore learned in OoTP. The trick is to be a guide through the “trial” and, though frustrating, let the person gain their own experience. Dumbledore learns this the hard way, paying with his life in HBP, and Harry is left to sort it out on his o...