Thank You J.K. Rowling

It is a curious thing, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well. -- Albus Dumbledore

My two daughters attended the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two while visiting my parents in Asheville, North Carolina, last week. (The thought of attending the second or third showing at a normal hour later in the day was out of the question.) It was only fitting that they went together, for together they grew up, from pre-teens to teens to young adults, with the story’s main characters. As we reach the final chapter and approach the end of an era, I cannot help but feel a touch of sadness, as if my children have graduated to yet another phase of life and are now primed for adventures of their own making. The youthful anticipation for the next installment of the Book and the hopeful excitement over the next sequel to the Movie are but memories banished to the fragments of time.

J.K. Rowling’s magnificent creation will belong forever in the annals of world literature; the Hollywood versions, though of much less artistic merit, will linger as a cultural phenomenon for years to come. An epic adventure of a normal boy with an extraordinary destiny, Harry Potter is a tale of courage and honesty, conflict and prejudice, in which a young man’s passion for life overcomes the fear of death. It is a series destined to rival the historic classics of C.S. Lewis and J. R. Tolkien.

I watched my daughters grow up with the boy wizard and his friends, and I must now observe as they forge ahead without benefit of Harry’s shared anxieties and Dumbledore’s wise counsel. They developed and matured and came of age at nearly the same pace as Harry, Ron, and Hermione; they shared the same feelings of nervousness and anxiety, of laughter and love; the same hopes and fears of their newfound and, I am certain, lifelong friends. They cried when Dumbledore died in Book Six and they worried over whether (and how in the world) Harry, Ron, and Hermione would survive the dark forces brooding over Hogwarts and the wizarding world. I will miss the energy, enthusiasm, and passion they exerted over the fictional characters that inhabited the pages of these wonderful books. But I will remain forever grateful to J.K. Rowling for creating the Harry Potter series, for providing me a pathway into the adolescent lives and developing minds of my teenage daughters, a chance to connect with them in a way that many fathers of teenage girls never do.

I am grateful to J.K. Rowling as well because, in many ways, Harry Potter is the singularly most important reason my daughters developed a love of reading. In a day of Playstation II and Wii, YouTube and Facebook, when video games and the Internet dominate the cultural landscape, Rowling succeeded in getting millions of kids to read, and to continue reading. Prior to the age of eleven, Jenny had shown little interest in reading. But then she picked up a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and connected with Harry’s life in a way that only a sixth grader can. She empathized with Harry; related to his fears and anxieties when he first boarded the Hogwarts Express on his way to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; understood his confusion and bewilderment at being the Chosen One; laughed at the awkwardness of Harry and Ron, especially with girls, and recognized the tensions which slowly developed between Harry and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione, feelings of jealousy, embarrassment, and missed opportunities that every teenager experiences at some point.

After the first book, Jen and, soon, younger sister Hannah anticipated the printing and release of each subsequent book, and then consumed every word. Jen read each book multiple times (and later listened to the audio readings by Jim Dale). They lived and learned with Harry about the world of wizardry and magical spells, the ups and downs of Hogwarts, the petty jealousies and resentments of its faculty and students, and the many people (good and bad) that Harry and company encounter along the way. Because of Harry Potter, today Jen is a prolific reader of fiction and nonfiction alike, having developed an interest in religion and philosophy that stems in part from the influence of the seven Harry Potter books. Hannah already was a reader before Rowling’s creations, but she shared Jen’s intense passion for the Potter adventures, which simply reaffirmed her love of books, literature, and the power of a good story.

From my vantage point as a father, Harry Potter allowed me to talk with my children about important things, about bravery and courage, integrity and ethics, justice and oppression. We talked as well about the conflicts and tensions that envelop love and friendship. We debated the goodness and badness of Snape and discussed issues such as prejudice (half-bloods, mud-bloods, pure-bloods), the forces of evil (Death Eaters, Voldemort), the significance of being the Chosen One (Harry Potter), and the perils of growing up, of trying to live the life of a normal teenager while confronting the obligations of a larger destiny; of the desire to snog with the opposite sex and compete in Quidditch matches, while having to battle the dark forces threatening to overtake all that was good and decent about the world in which they lived.

At its heart, Harry Potter is about the transforming power of love and its ability to conquer all, to overcome the fear of death, to be willing to sacrifice one’s own life for the sake of others. Once you get past the flying broomsticks, talking centaurs, Dementors and Death Eaters, wands and magic spells, Harry Potter is really a coming of age story of three good friends who, through chance and circumstance and history are bound together, destined for a life of consequence. From the moment they first met on the Hogwarts Express, they formed an unbreakable bond with their readers. We rooted for them to win at Quidditch and to thwart the despicable Malfoy. We worried for their safety and the welfare of the many good wizards who were at risk from the dark forces on the horizon. We attended their classes on Transfiguration and Charms, Potions and Muggle Studies, the History of Magic and the Defense Against the Dark Arts. We cared about them.

There is something truly magical in watching your children connect with literary characters that they really care about, to hear them talk and argue with their friends about the importance and significance of Dumbledore’s wand and whether Snape can be trusted; to genuinely worry over the fates of these imaginary figures. Perhaps it is better to concern oneself with reality, but while Harry Potter is a fantasy, the series successfully captures our imagination because it contends with real life issues of historical import, the age-old dramas of good versus evil, life and death, oppression and violence, and the threats to liberty posed by the forces of prejudice and revenge.

Along the way, like Harry, my daughters also found solace in the wisdom of Albus Dumbledore. “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live,” he reminded Harry in The Sorcerer’s Stone. “The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing,” he noted on another occasion, “and should therefore be treated with caution.” After the traumatic death of Cedric and the return of Lord Voldemort in The Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore warns the students at Hogwarts that “[d]ark times lie ahead of us and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right.” Dumbledore’s life lessons rival those of the wisest teacher.

The death of Dumbledore in Book Six was traumatic, but perhaps a valuable lesson to young hearts and minds. “It’s the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness,” Dumbledore advises Harry at one point in the story, “nothing more.” In The Prisoner of Azkaban, Dumbledore admonishes Harry, whose father was murdered by Voldemort when Harry was a baby, “You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don't recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself plainly when you have need of him.” In the end, these truths may have helped Harry recognize that death itself was not something to be feared, that a greater force exists within each of us.

The world of Harry Potter has been an influential part of my daughter’s lives, encompassing more than half of Jen’s young life and nearly two-thirds of Hannah’s. Part of me does not want it all to end, for the end of Harry Potter means it is time to recognize that my daughters are now young adults, two young women ready to live and explore life on their own terms, that they are less in need of Dad’s advice and company. I know that, in many ways, this is a good thing, but I am reluctant to let go. Perhaps we will find a new author or a new story to share in the coming years, some new ground of mutual interest to provide a forum upon which we can talk about significant issues without even trying. But I am forever grateful to J.K. Rowling and the world she created.

The President Can Talk To My Kids Anytime

They warned of socialist indoctrination, political propaganda, and all manner of sorcery and witchcraft. School districts throughout the country, particularly in Texas and Virginia, declined to show the speech. In those districts that did show it, some parents demanded that their children be excluded. As reported in today's New York Times, a fourth-grade girl at an elementary school in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat alone eating her lunch as the rest of her classmates watched the speech in an adjoining classroom. Some parents even kept their children home from school, rather than --God forbid -- they watch a fifteen minute inspirational talk by the President of the United States.

Given the hype and controversy leading up to the speech, one would expect that it was a real hum-dinger, perhaps a flowery manifesto in support of Big Government, Death Panels, Income Re-Distribution, and Taxes. Perhaps an attempt to brainwash our children into becoming servants of the State, followers of Karl Marx, and believers in socialized medicine. Well, not quite. As it turns out, after several days of right-wing conspiracy theories and talk radio venom, the President in the end spoiled the day.

Instead, the President spoke of the importance of education and of every students' individual responsibility to attend school, "pay attention" to teachers, listen to parents and grandparents, and "put in the hard work it takes to succeed." He instructed that, "no matter what you do in life, I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. . . . You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to train for it and work for it and learn for it."

He spoke from the heart of the emotional pain growing up as a fatherless child; of how he "missed having a father" and recalled "times when I was lonely and I felt like I didn't fit in." He understood that some students did not have adults in their lives to provide an affirming presence and much needed support; that some children live in neighborhoods "where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right." But no matter one's lot in life, the President admonished that "none of that is an excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying." He recited inspirational examples of students who have overcome tremendous odds -- language barriers, cancer, foster homes and tough neighborhoods -- and through hard work and perseverance have gone on to college and, in one case, medical school. These students succeeded and overcame great obstacles, simply because they "chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and [to] set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same."

He spoke of the need to experience failure before one can experience success, using as examples J.K. Rowling, whose first Harry Potter book was rejected by 12 publishing companies before it was finally accepted, and Michael Jordan, who was cut from his high school basketball team during his freshman year. "You become good at things through hard work. . . . You've got to practice. . . . You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right. You might have to read something a few times before you understand it. You definitely have to do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in." He said that no one should be afraid to ask questions or "for help when you need it. I do that every day."

"The story of America," the President said, is not "about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best." He urged all of the students to put their best efforts into everything they did, and that he expected great things from all of them. "So don't let us down. Don't let your family down or your country down. Most of all, don't let yourself down."

If this is socialist indoctrination, then please dish out some more. I feel sorry for the fourth grader in Greensboro, for it is not her fault that she was cursed with such close minded, intolerant parents, so full of fear and paranoia that they cannot permit their daughter to listen to the President of the United States speak about hard work and responsibility. But as for the school children in Philadelphia, and Camden, and the Bronx, and throughout most of America, I am really pleased that they sat and listened to the President's talk. It is these students for whom the President's message may have the most resonance, students who understand that the President's heart is in the right place, that he really does want all of them -- black or white, rich or poor, male or female -- to succeed; that he wants America to be a better country than we are now or have ever been. He believes in America's youth, because he believes in America. As one young middle schooler from Denver said, "I think it was pretty cool to have the leader of the country speaking to us." As for my kids, the President can speak to them any time his heart desires.