I grew up reading" Harry Potter" and awaiting the countdown for each movie along with millions of other millennials. No books will ever make me feel things as deeply as "Harry Potter" did. I know that people always love to talk about the funny and happy parts of the "Harry Potter" series, but we need to talk about just how much the story of "Harry Potter" relates to things that people in our society go through every day. So let's have a serious talk, y'all.
Some people may write off my opinions to be stupid or think that a fictional book in no way relates to actual real life, but I feel that J.K. Rowling wanted us to really learn valuable life lessons from reading her books. To me, Voldemort is everything that is making us scared, including school shootings and attacks by ISIS or other terrorists. In the books, the wizards and witches were scared to even speak Voldemort's name and would refer to him as "he-who-must-not-be-named." And let's be honest, just like how the witches and wizards were scared of Voldemort, we are scared of all of these fears of terrorism that hinder us everyday.
The parents of students at Hogwarts wouldn't let some of their children return to Hogwarts when Voldemort reached his peak of terrorizing witches and wizards. This reminds me so much of when the Paris shootings occurred; my mother told me that there was no way that I would be allowed to study abroad in France anymore, which has always been a lifelong dream of mine. I have heard this from the parents of many of my friends as well because they shared my parents' fear about their sons and daughters being hit by the next terrorist attack. Because of school shootings, parents are becoming nervous to even send their children to school anymore. opting for homeschooling instead. And I'm not saying that homeschooling is a bad way to get an education, but parents are choosing this route for safety reasons and not because of the education provided at their child's school. Some of us can remember back to when 9/11 hit and our parents came to pick us up. We were miles away, and the fear was still relevant. Or when there was a bomb threat at the high school I graduated from; only about 30 kids came to school the next day.
The Death Eaters are just like the people you see who decide to be copycats of bombers and shooters, or people in countries all over the world who praise ISIS and try to carry out their horrendous acts. They become warped in their minds, believing that what they are doing is truly the right thing to do.
People in the "Harry Potter" series were in constant fear, just like us, because like us, they never knew when the next attack would occur. This constant fear drove their society apart. A particular instance in "Harry Potter" was when everyone in Hogwarts hated Harry because they were all convinced that Harry was the reason that all of the problems with Voldemort and the Death Eaters were happening. We are all so tense that we are getting angry at each other over these problems that are happening every day around us, and some people are reacting by beating up random Muslims they see on the street or keeping Syrian refugees out of America by provoking fears that the refugees could murder us or cause crime. A similar situation occurred in our history, back when the government locked all of the Japanese Americans up in camps after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. But just like Voldemort and the Death Eaters, the people pushing fear on us to oppress us from doing the right things want us to feel divided against each other because it distracts us from the awful things they are doing.
And then we get to Hermione, Ron, and Harry Potter himself. Harry was constantly shut down for speaking out against Voldemort by people in denial that Voldemort was even a problem--and when it became clear that he was a problem, they still spoke against Harry. He dealt with this for years, but he never backed down. Hermione was extremely educated and always thought of a problem at every angle to go about solving it. Ron was always scared of everything in the beginning, but as time went on he saw that what was happening in their world was not right, and he eventually rose above his fears to help defeat Voldemort. We need people like Harry, Hermione, and Ron now. We need to educate ourselves, speak outwardly about these issues, and keep going even if it scares the living daylights out of us.
I know that the things happening in this world are frightening and that it would just be easier to back down and live in constant fear of being the next victim, but as Dumbledore said, "Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy." The wizarding world went through many travesties before its people finally overcame the evil they faced. But we all need to stand up and stand together just like the final battle at Hogwarts, and I don't care how clichéd that sounds.
I refuse to let these people scare me and control what I do or where I go. I refuse to give up my dream of studying abroad or to turn against my peers whose views about issues happening today differ from my own. I will always educate myself and be skeptical of what is told to me by the media. Because this is what their goal is--and I refuse to give in.
