Harry's anger (was Re: Draco's anger.)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 122293


"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a 
stone." (John 8:6 New International Version)

TrekkieGrrrl wrote:

> Since when have two wrongs equalled one right?
> 
> Just because Snape did something wrong it doesn't entitle Harry to  
> do something wrong (or worse) to Snape.
 > And I just can't see that the dog chasing Harry up a tree can be  
> likened with Severus being humiliated and stripped(?) in front of 
the whole school.

Geoff:
I agree. Two wrongs do not make a right. 

But how many of us can, hand on heart, say that we have never done 
something mean or questionable which we have perhaps regretted when 
we consider the matter afterwards. As I have pointed out several 
times recently, you can write a list as long as your arm of ways in 
which Snape has intruded on Harry - inter alia, he has humiliated 
him, he has been unfair, he has used him as a method of working out 
his hatred of James. You would need the patience of a saint to handle 
all this calmly and rationally. 

Harry is not a saint - none of us are for that matter. He has had all 
the usual problems of a growing boy in puberty plus a few others 
unique to Harry Potter so it is not surprising that he comes to the 
boil occasionally and does something which is perhaps a bit sneaky or 
underhand.

Just taking your examples in passing, do you not think that Harry - 
as a child -would not be as humiliated by the dog incident as Snape 
with the Marauders incident?

Jocelyn wrote:

> Eggplant, this is not a morally valid reason. Harry's only excuse 
> for violating the privacy of another human being in this way is   
> that he is a child and he gave in to temptation. When he is a man 
> we expect that he will know better, and have stronger moral fibre.

Geoff:
Yes, but to extend on what I wrote above, when we become men (and 
women) we still allow ourselves the leeway to behave badly on 
occasions - sometimes deliberately, sometimes without thinking or 
realising that we have.

Where we learn and grow is by reflecting on the fact that we did 
fail - ourselves if no one else - and try to use our experience in 
future situations.