Nice vs. Good

[Shirley]

No: HPFGUIDX 79866

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Nora Renka <nrenka at y...> wrote:
--<rather hefty snip>--
> Nora:
> Pensieve!James is cruel.  I myself found that scene
> rather disturbing, and felt some real empathy with
> Snape.  But on reflection, I actually find myself
> *less* sympathetic for Snape now than I used to be,
> because he should know better.  He's been the
> tormented, and now he's the tormentor, and the mental
> gymnastics must be amazing.  But he'd be a better
> person if he'd realize being 'nice' isn't a trivial
> thing.
> 
> As always, I welcome comments/flames/whatever via
> email, and please point out any holes in logic.  It's
> been a long day. :)
> 
> -Nora

now Shirley, noting how she always seems to reply to posts just as 
she's walking out the door for the day....

I agree; I found that I didn't like Pensieve!James much, either.  
Perhaps it's because I hated watching pointless cruelty like that in 
grade school and still do.  However, I must point out that one of the 
traits of human nature that never fails to mystify me is that oft-
times, the 'bullied' eventually becomes the 'bully'.  I saw it 
countless times in college when the fraternity pledges (first years) 
were hazed by the upperclassmen and hated it; only to dish out the 
very same horrible treatment to the next group of pledges when they 
(the original first years) became the upperclassmen - their logic 
being that *they* had to put up with it, so now it's *their* turn - 
an awful, neverending cycle.  I've also seen it with some of the kids 
at my daughter's school (so they are now working on "bully-proofing" 
the school).

At any rate, I just figured that Snape was doing the same thing.

Shirley, who rather likes Snape a bit more after seeing some of his 
memories, but wishes he would grow up ;-)