Sirius revisited--emotional maturity

[jekatiska]

No: HPFGUIDX 104669

> SSSusan:
> I think you're right, too, that we were/are INTENDED to think of 
> Sirius as one of the good guys.  And because there were good aspects 
> to his character, I have continued to issue *tempered* or 
> *qualified* "defenses" of him.  I think there were many good THINGS 
> about him, but the recent spate of posts pointing out his failings 
> have really made me reconsider the overall Sirius.  

Jekatiska says:

Oh, come on. Sirius was a KID. Kids do stupid things. Kids do cruel things. They behave 
differently when adults are not there - so we can't be sure even of our own kids/siblings/
family members, as we will never know what they are like when we are not there. (My 
youngest brother who is sweet-tempered (quite unlike the rest of my family), considerate 
and kind, was recently punished at school for fighting, something I could never have 
imagined him to do.) And most kids fortunately grow out of it and become sensible adults. 
Some kids are more thoughtless than others, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they will 
become thoughtless or cruel adults. Harry as an orphan raised by a foster family that hates 
him, has had a difficult childhood and has had to *think* at an early age, something most 
kids in our comfortable western society don't have to do (even when they grow up...). Thus 
he is much more mature than his father and Sirius at the same age. Sirius was immature, 
cruel and self-centered, but then many kids from privileged backgrounds are. It does not 
make a person *bad* if they have done some cruel things when they were kids. We all 
have. (And anyone who claims they haven't, lives in denial.) No one is wholly good - or 
indeed wholly bad. I refer to the discussion about Harry's defeat of Voldemort by finding 
pity or forgiveness for him. I think Harry finding out that Sirius and James weren't perfect 
is build-up for his discovery that there may be something good, or at least pitiable in 
Voldemort.