In a word, brilliant. In her commencement address at Harvard today J. K. Rowling did herself honor. She is truly a gem. An author full of wit and wisdom. One of my favorite passages:
Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people's minds, imagine themselves into other people's places.
Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.
And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.
I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.
What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.
Bless her. Bless her a thousand times over. What a truly wise and gracious person she must be to use her platform to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, to embolden her listeners to live noble lives that seek neighborly justice and love. This post is not hagiography. Rowling deserves praise.
Oh, about the "gay wizard" joke. Many of you know that I'm an evangelical Christian. And many of you read my essay "Harry Potter 7 Is Saint Matthew 6" published but never paid for :-( by Christianity Today. So how do I feel about her cheeky Dumbledore joke? Bottom line, it caught me totally off guard and had me laughing hysterically. People, if you cannot tell a joke, you're no fun. That said, there have been excellent discussions from a Christian perspective about Dumbledore at blogs like The Hog's Head and Hogwarts Professor.
Likely in the next few weeks I'll reread Deathly Hallows and write some Harry Potter musings, perhaps even revisit my essay. Gotta prepare for the Harry Potter conference my wife and I will be attending next month.
What was the "gay wizard" joke?
Posted by: Emma | June 10, 2008 at 08:27 AM