[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry's sacrifice

[rayheuer3 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 58652

bard7696 at aol.com writes:

> What exactly is your point here? I gather you're trying to prove 
> Harry hasn't made a sacrifice, but it seems to me that trying to 
> downplay the physical abuse he's suffered is not the way to go about 
> it.


The word "sacrifice" has several definitions, but here is the one I think 
applies:

"3 a : destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else.
     b : something given up or lost <the sacrifices made by parents> "

Has Harry ever lost an eye, an ear, a limb, or even a tooth?  No.  Does Harry 
walk with a limp?  Does he suffer from shortness of breath?  No.  So, what 
has he sacrificed?

Harry takes risks, yes.  But with the sure and certain knowledge that 
whatever ills may befall him will be set right.  Which means he doesn't really "risk" 
anything.

When Ron sacrificed himself on the chess board in PS/SS, he did so with the 
knowledge that he might have been fatally injured.  Harry, on the other hand 
has been in situations where he *should* have died several times, and lived to 
tell about it each time.  Every time this happens, he will be more certain that 
he will walk away the next time.

Risk does not equal sacrifice.  LOSS equals sacrifice, and so far Harry has 
never lost anything by his own actions.

  --  Ray


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