[HPforGrownups] Harry's anger (was Re: Draco's anger.)

[Jocelyn Grunow]

No: HPFGUIDX 122312

On Wednesday, January 19, 2005, at 05:39 am, Geoff Bannister wrote:

> 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.
>
Yes!  We may aim at perfection, but most of us (all of us) are nowhere 
near attaining it.  Where we FAIL to learn and grow is if we deny that 
it was a failure on our own part at all - when we blame the other 
person for 'forcing' us to behave this way.

As you can tell, I do not believe in the principle that the end 
justifies the means.

For one thing, we ALL believe we are justified!  If Iraqi insurgents 
were to take western troops tomorrow and pile them in naked human 
pyramids, they could claim that they had the right to do so, because 
the bad guys did it first.  And they were only trying to get 
information for their justifiable cause out of the troops.  And they 
deserved it for invading their homeland.

Would this be a true claim?  No.  But it is perfectly logical under the 
principle of 'he did it to me first and we're trying to win a war 
here'.  It's a slippery slope folks, and one step down it can lead to a 
rapid descent.

Jocelyn