Harry's sacrifice

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 58656

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, rayheuer3 at a... wrote:
>
> ...edited...
> 
> Yes, Harry is brave.  Yes, Harry is a hero.  Like most heroes, he has 
> companions willing to sacrifice themselves for him.  But Harry has
yet to sacrifice 
> anything.
> 
>   --  Ray

bboy_mn:

What you object to is the fact that Harry hasn't LOST the things he
freely and willingly sacrificed. To use a metaphor, other are saying
the fact that Harry gambled and WON, doesn't diminish the fact that he
gambled. You seem to be saying his repeated acts of selflessness and
self-sacrifice only count if he loses. 

I think most people see Harry's applied willingness to sacrifice in
and of itself as a scarifice. By applied willingness, I mean that
Harry just doesn't sit around and intellectually say, 'Yes, I'm
willing to do that'. He actually goes out and does it. Using the Stone
as an example, he didn't talk about his williness to go and save it,
he actually did it, and in doing so faces a very very high likelihood
of death; he willingly went up against hopeless odds. And, as the
event unfolded, more that once he faced certain death, and chose to go
on. He chose to selflessly fight on and sacrifice himself rather the
admit defeat and retreat.

Harry willingly and eagerly through his actions sacrifices himself for
the greater good. The difference between you and most people, is that
most people don't hold the fact that he won against him.

Harry has repeated engaged in the act of sacrifice, and come out of it
alive. So, if we accept your apparent definition that it only counts
if he loses, then I guess he hasn't sacrificed anything in the sense
that he hasn't lost anything. 

Just a thought.

bboy_mn