books are a better way of being

** This has nothing to do with the what's or how's or why's of my life, but sometimes you just finna blog and have some feelings and hope that someone feels something too.**

"The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie."
Rowling, J.K.(1997). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Scholastic: New York. p.298


"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." 
Rowling, J.K.(1999). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Scholastic: New York. p.333
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I admire Albus Dumbledore very much, fictitious or factual I think it's safe to say he played a large and formative role in my childhood. I'm aware that says something about me... For the record, I've never read Lord of the Rings and I finished the Chronicles of Narnia as an adult; so don't get any ideas.

I started re-reading the Harry Potter series a few days ago, as a fun undertaking to occupy my seemingly endless time spent on public transit. Did I forget how much I loved these books? Did I not remember how wise Dumbledore is? I must have, because I've been consumed. I just finished book one in two days (which isn't saying much. it's a pithy little pamphlet in comparison to the other six) and already I'm sucked back in. These books are so many good things in one.

They are memories. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was first read to me the summer of 1999 as a fourth grader spending a week at her family's lake house in Wisconsin's northwoods.  I remember the gripping fear of finishing the book late at night in my bedroom, and thinking Voldemort's shriveled, white face would be behind the book as soon as I put it down.

They are life lessons. The idea that Love is more powerful than evil, and that Love is incomprehensible to those who do evil? I'm sure I thought it sounded good when I was 10, but as an adult I'm struck by what it means. When Harry asks Dumbledore why Quirrell couldn't stand to touch his skin, Dumbledore says, "...to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, so full of hatred, greed and ambition... could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good." (p.299)

I know that people are able to touch my skin burn free (which is too bad, as I I love personal space), but there is some incredibly beautiful imagery here. That I am loved so deeply that I am marked by it, even if  the bestower of that love is gone, is fantastic. Obviously we all have an indelible mark of love on us because of Christ's love for us, but think of the amazing mark of love many of us carry from other places? My mom, for example, was so deeply loved by my Grandparents that I know she carries that with her, in her, she is positive and joyful and courageous because she was loved fiercely by these people. Some long dead, she still carries a mark in her deepest being that displays how amazing she is.

They are inspirational. Let's get real here (as real as we're going to get in talking about a children's fantasy series...) Harry, Ron and Hermione are 11 freaking years old when they're battling old Voldy. I wore overalls when I was 11 and got in really intense fights with my girl friends. These kids are good battling evil. For shame, 11 y.o. LB, for shame.

"So light a fire!" Harry choked. "Yes- of course- but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands. "HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"
Love it.
Call your friends on who they really are. 
Dream big. 
Burn that Devil's Snare.

This has been sufficiently nerdy.
I think books are fantastic. Every child should read things that entertain them and scare them and challenge them and make them laugh. Every adult should also read things that entertain them and scare them and challenge them and make them laugh. Both groups should learn from these books.


over and out. Currently soliciting advice about what to do when I inevitably get to book four and I can no longer fit my leisure reading in my backpack.