Prank

[Richard]

No: HPFGUIDX 80129

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sylviablundell2001" 
<sylviablundell at a...> wrote:
> I'm getting increasingly worried about the use of this 
word "prank". 
> It has such a light-hearted sound about it. My dictionary defines 
it 
> as "a sportive trick, a mischievous act".  I can see nothing 
sportive 
> or mischievous about an act that can lead to someone's death.  I 
> can't believe DD's casual attitude to it.  Ask yourself how you 
would 
> have reacted if one of your children had confessed to such 
a "prank".
> Sylvia (who knows damn well what would have happened to any of hers)

And I (Richard) reply:

Having been a "boys will be boys" kind of boy just a few decades ago, 
I take a much different view of all this than do you.  Dumbledore is 
looking at things from three perspectives: greatly seasoned age, the 
same of wisdom, and from decades after the fact.  He knows what was 
done was dangerous, but also that those parties grew out of their 
callous youths and lived to fight real battles against real evils, 
with courage and confidence.  He knows Harry sees the danger in what 
was done, and that belaboring Harry with righteous condemnation would 
serve little or no purpose but to alienate Harry.

Now, for some perspective of my own ...

As children, various friends, relatives and I did a good many things 
that were just plain dangerous.  In several of our escapades, I now 
know there was a real risk of death for one or more of us.  If a 
child of mine were to try similar things, I'd hit the roof ... though 
more as act than in real anger, as I would be trying to convince 
him/her/them that this wasn't a good idea at all, and not because I 
thought such "pranks" so unusual or horrible.  Children can generally 
do with more thinking and less reacting, or worse, acting upon 
impulses.

Having done things ranging from falling off a cliff, to jumping off 
other cliffs, to talking calmly to my mother while a dart was stuck 
in the back of my head (trying very hard to ensure she didn't see it, 
as then we would have ALL been in serious trouble), to playing with 
live copperheads and water moccasins, and a good many things in 
between, as well as having seen friends do like things and worse, I 
also know that none of us died.  We were boys ... OK, so we were 
mostly American Indian boys, which means some things that most non-
AmerInds will never understand ... and simply trying to find the 
limits of what we could and could not do.  I also know that the lot 
of us grew up to be about as confident, calm and self-assured as you 
can get.  None that I still know of today has been a failure in life, 
even if others might not agree with their personal senses of success.

Looking back, I can see a lot of humor in what we did as children, 
even as I now see and understand the dangers involved.  I would not 
trade places with anyone who has never tested any of their personal 
limits, as I think they must surely live in much greater doubt of 
themselves than those of us who pushed the limits regularly and 
firmly.  Still, you do have to impress upon children such as we were 
that there are risks, and that they really do need to be calculated 
with some care.

Having said this, let's look at modern "extreme" sports.  I think 
there is a good deal more danger in some of these sports than most 
parents and almost all children realize.  I've seen kids do things 
that I find brazenly reckless, involving significant risk to 
themselves and others.  Worse, I've seen their parents act as if this 
is just fine, and bitterly attack other adults who question the 
prudence of some of those actions.  At the same time, we've all seen 
the World become a good deal more litigious.  Everything is someone 
else's fault, even if the injured party had ample time and cause to 
know better.  This trend among parents during their childrens' 
developmental years is to me far more disturbing than the acts of the 
children themselves, as the moderating influence that parents should 
have too often doesn't exist at all.

So, I guess one of my points is that it is perhaps wiser to be calm 
at a more distant time even if the events themselves call for thunder 
and lightening at the time they happen.


Richard