Harry's importance and threats of expulsion

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 57203

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "karmakaze_kk" <sarudy at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Dicentra spectabilis"
> <dicentra at x> wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Dan Delaney <Dionysos at D...>
wrote:
> >> 
> >> Sooner or later Harry will figure that out and stop being
> >> so afraid of being expelled just for the little rule breaking
> >> he does. ....


> Karmakaze:
> 
> > .... I've also noticed that Harry isn't a little scofflaw, and yet
> > Dumbledore says in CoS that one of the qualities that Harry 
> > possesses that Salazar Slytherin would have valued is "a certain 
> > disregard for rules."
> 
> Actually, I tend to disagree.  Harry may not think all rules
> are pointless, but he does seem to think they don't apply to
> him.  
> 
> ...edited...

> 
> Harry always thinks he has the best and most urgent reasons to break
> the rules, but he does break them left and right.  It's an attitude
> that says "I think I know what is important better than the people
> who make the rules", which qualifies as "disregard" for me.
> 
> -Karmakaze

bboy_mn:

I don't think you will get much support for this position; some, yes,
but a lot, no.

In the past, someone wrote a long essay on the stages of moral
development, and pointed out that, as strange as it may seem, obeying
the rules is a very low stage of moral development. Sometimes
disregarding the rules is the morally correct thing to do. 

Example; a soldier has a moral obligation to obey orders (as well as
rules and regulations), but that same soldier has a higher moral
obligation to humanity as a whole. If your orders ask you to commit
'crimes against humanity', then you have a higher moral obligation to
disobey. Many soldiers who obeyed the letter and the spirit of their
orders have been tried for war crimes. If you doubt me, look up the
Nuremberg Trials in your history books.

Harry, dispite his occassional mischief, has very high moral
character. The does what is right; he does what must be done, even if
it goes against the rules. When he realized that there was nothing
left to prevent Snape (actually Quirrel, but he didn't know that yet)
from getting the Stone for Voldemort, he put the good of humanity
above his own life and safety. His breaking of the rules was not an
act of arrogance or disobedience, it was a self-sacrifice for the
'greater good' of humanity. He didn't ask or even assume his friends
would come with him. He is in fact surprised to find out that THEY
assume that they will be coming with. 

The higher moral plain that Harry and Dumbledore live on says when
faced with a moral dilemma, you look into your conscience and do what
you know is right, regardless of what the rules say. Rules are nothing
more than a snapshot of people opinions at a given point in time. At
another time, they may change the rules to suit the opinions at that
given time. Yesterday abortion is wrong, today abortion is right
(please, let's not start an abortion debate, I'm simply illustrating a
point). Yesterday the death penalty is OK, today it is not. Yesterday
non-white people were subhuman, today they are brilliant scholars,
scientists, inventors, world leaders, religious and moral authorities,
and by most scientific apprasals, the races from which the white race
originated. Shall I go on? Morality, as opposed to rules, is, on the
other hand, somewhat universal. What is truly right, changes very
little over time.

Of course, sometimes, like all of us, Harry gets it wrong, or chooses
to ignore his conscience; like when he went into Hogsmeade without
permission. But his small wrong infaction pale when compared to his
many large morally right infactions of the rules. 

I don't at all see Harry viewing himself as above the rules. He takes
the rules as serious or probably more serious than the other students.
It's just that Harry's life is far more complex than most other
students. He is faced with complex situations that other student will
never have to face. I would say that his rule breaking that falls into
the catagory of mischief is probably on par with his classmates. 

So does he disregard the rules? Yes, but mostly when the rules need to
be disregarded.

Remember, blindly and unquestioningly obeying the rules is a very low
degree of moral development. Remember what Dumbledore said (I
paraphrase), many times in life you will be face with choosing between
what is right and what is easy. Let's hope you will always choose what
is right.

Nuf said.

bboy_mn