Book 7 predictions

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 99007


> Del asked:
> > > I still don't see that Harry has any 
> > > more love or compassion than any average kid. Harry has a lot of 
> > > qualities, courage and perseverance for example, but he doesn't 
> > > strike me as either particularly loving or exceptionnally 
> > > compassionate. Can someone explain that to me yet again :-) ?
>  
> Annemehr answered :
> > There is something to say for him in how *unhesitatingly* he runs 
> > off to "save people."  In the day-to-day little things, you don't 
> > see anything special from him, but when he knows someone, or 
> > everyone, is in great danger, he wants to help with very little 
> > thought for his own safety.
> 
> Del replies :
> I agree. But I don't think that's just compassion. It's bravery, 
> courage, self-assurance, recklessness, whatever you want, and 
> usually based on compassionate feelings, but it's not exceptional 
> compassion.

Annemehr:
I haven't been around this list in over a week (May is always a busy
month for me), and I've just caught up to your post!  Anyway...

See, I don't think we can just chalk it up to bravery.  Look at the
contrast between how Harry rushes off to help and his immediate
*dread* when he found out he had to face a dragon.  This is the kid
who went straight into the lair of a basilisk that could kill him with
just a look -- how bad are fifty-foot jets of flame after that?  <g> 
Harry felt the dread about the dragon because there was no need for
compassion that could have numbed it.

Harry's bravery only seems to kick in to help him do something he
feels he has to for some other reason, never just for the sake of
doing something dangerous.  He seems to me to be quite different from
the picture that Sirius painted of James ("The risk would've been what
made it fun for James.").  Harry never does things out of bravery
alone; his bravery only comes out when it's *forced* to, either in
service of his compassion or when he's just cornered.

That's how I see it, anyway.

Del:
 Most of us, I would think, would have the same impulse 
> to run and help when someone needs help. But the difference with 
> Harry is that most of the time, we stop ourselves for following our 
> impulse.
<snip>
> So yes Harry is exceptional in the way he just goes and does what 
> needs to be done, no matter how dangerous. But he doesn't do so 
> because he's any more compassionate or loving that most of us. 
> That's strictly IMO, of course.

Annemehr:
Well, he does indeed seem to be braver than average, and he certainly
is placed in unique circumstances which make him the "only man for the
job."  But, IMO, that's not *instead* of being loving, but added to it.

One place Harry didn't rush in to help was after the QWC, and this
fits one of your (snipped) examples of why people don't help: there
are better qualified people around to do so.  But, Harry still *cared*
about the muggles.  He also cared about the Longbottoms, for whom
there was no help to be had.  No possiblility of recklessness or
special circumstances in these examples.

Well, that's my Harry, anyway -- there is plenty of love in him as far
as I can see.

Annemehr
who certainly hopes that by now Del is all better  :)