Sirius's situation his fault? WAS: Re: Debatable ethical issues in OotP and HBP

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 142401

> Carol responds:

<SNIP>
> Now I'm going to step out on a limb and say that Black's situation 
is
> in large measure his own fault. 

Alla:


OK, I am only talking about Sirius being depressed in OOP. According 
to what I have read about depression, according to what I KNOW about 
depression, I think the analogy is spot on, so if you ARE accepting 
that Sirius was being depressed in OOP, how could depression be 
depressed person's fault?

Of course if you are not accepting that Sirius was being depressed, 
then we are talking past each other, I guess. So, I am writing on 
assumption that you agree that Sirius was depressed in OOP, if you 
don't please disregard what I wrote.



Carol:

While others (notably Wormtail and
> Dumbledore, and to a lesser degree, Snape with his taunts) play a
> role, Black has made the bed that he's lying in.

Alla:

I am completely confused. Are you saying that Sirius made a CHOICE 
to be depressed in OOP? That he deliberately lived his life the way 
that lead to his depression?


Carol
<SNIP>
 After twelve years in
> Azkaban, he escaped with the noble intention of murdering his 
former
> friend and behaved in ways that reinforced the perception that he 
was
> a homicidal maniac (sneaking into Hogwarts toand slashing portraits
> and bedcurtains).

Alla:

I think that person who lived twelve years near creatures who sucked 
all happiness out of you  and did not go completely crazy, would be 
more than a  little traumatised right after the escape of that 
place. But I am still not getting how is it Sirius' fault? Are you 
saying that he should have stayed in Azkaban?


Carol:

 The first sensible thing he does is to fly to some
> tropical paradise on Buckbeak, but he forgoes safety and flies to
> England to live on rats and hide in caves when he hears that 
Harry's
> scar hurts. 

Alla:

So, rushing to help his godson, who needs him is wrong? Should have 
he ignored Harry's cry for help then? Would that made Sirius more 
sensible person? Why is it Sirius fault to rush to help  the boy who 
needs him? 




Carol:
<SNIP>
In any case, living at 12 GP is his own
> decision. He still has Buckbeak. He could fly back to his tropical
> paradise at any point. Instead, he chooses to remain, drowning his
> sorrows in self-pity and firewhisky (or whatever he's drinking) and
> living in the past. At this point, his only hope for a useful life
> lies in Wormtail's arrest, or, if he's unwilling to wait for that, 
a
> new life in some other country. Yes, his is a tragically wasted 
life.
> But the responsibility for that wasted life, like the decision to 
go
> to the MoM, is primarily or entirely his own.


Alla:

Sirius CHOOSES to give Grimmauld Place to the Order, true, but 
Sirius does not choose to be useless to the Order. All he wants is 
to fight, to be useful somehow.

The fact that he chose to be a good soldier, to obey Dumbledore's 
orders, to stay close to Harry, does not make his depression his 
fault, IMO. 

JMO,

Alla