OOP: The unknown power

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 119096


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dungrollin" 
<spotthedungbeetle at h...> wrote:

Dungrollin:

<snip>

> The thing is, JKR hasn't ever talked about sacrificial love, 
> has she?  She's said that the trait she values above all others
> is courage.  Which leaves those of us who find the idea a little 
> slushy with some hope that what lies behind the door may be 
> something more original, (and less overtly religious).

Geoff:

Well then, how do you equate that with the following....

'"But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?"
"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot 
understand, it is love. He didn't realise that love so powerful as 
your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible 
sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who 
loved us is gone, will give some protection for ever. It is in your 
very skin."'

(PS "The Man with Two Faces" p.216 UK edition)

If that isn't JKR talking about sacrificial love, then I'm the next 
DADA teacher...

It is never slushy love in such a situation. As I said earlier, the 
problem is what do we mean by "love"? There are examples of 
sacrificial love throughout life. Parents who give up their lives to 
save their children, folk who step into a dangerous situation for the 
sake of others in peril (I think of my local lifeboat crew who 
frequently lay their lives on the line for strangers in trouble). 

As a side issue, I believe as a Christian that Christ's sacrificial 
love is the heartbeat of the universe but others may not want to be 
overtly religious. My answer is I'm not religious, I have a faith; 
there is a difference rather like the four types of love recognised 
in Greek. The fact is that, without real, sacrifical love, the world 
becomes a dictatorship where what we do is driven by fear and there 
is no room for showing compassion and empathy for its own sake. We 
might all as well join Voldemort on the "what's in it for me" merry-
go-round.