On the trivial and the profound (was: On lying and cheating)

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 165437

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Magpie" <belviso at ...> wrote:
> Let's try a different analogy. I'm running to get help for someone 
> choking to death. I jay walk across the 
> street to get to the doctor more quickly. I don't think anybody 
> would say I was doing a bad thing there. But of course I'm taking 
> the easy way instead of the 'right' way according to a law that says 
> I'm not supposed to jaywalk. I might not be doing anything wrong--in  
> fact, doing "right" there would be wrong in the larger sense, but I  
> see no reason to say to myself that I wasn't really not crossing at 
> the corner. On the contrary, I'd own that I was taking the easy way. 
> The next day, if I were going back to the doctor to get medicine for 
> the person, I'd cross at the corner even though I was still going to 
> the doctor to help someone else.
>
> Not that that analogy completely fits Harry, since his taking the 
> easy way in Potions is not like my crossing the street in the 
> middle. 

Valky:
Why isn't it? What is different about Harry's situation in your view? 
This looks to me like an excellent analogy of Harry's situation.

1. Potions Class is very much like a street Harry needs to cross on
his way to save lives. 

2. He's not crossing it according to the law of crossing streets, but
in the greater context of saving the life walking up to the corner to
cross wait for a green light isn't the best option. 

3. He's under no delusions that he's crossing at the lights, he knows
he's jaywalking. But still he chooses it because it seems well and
truly the shortest and most right path to the person in need. 

It sounds right to me. 

It doesn't mean he can't be wrong about this, you can be certain that
jaywalking will ensure you get to someones aid most efficiently in
order to save them.. then a truck can run you over. You can be wrong,
of course and that is why it is not my position here to deny that. 

My point is this - Harry's life is not an exercise in crossing streets
anymore, it's an exercise in saving lives per the prophecy. The easy
way in your analogy is not to save that persons life at all, because
it's impossible to lawfully cross the street efficiently from where
you stand. That's what I would call choosing easy but not necessarily
right. In the greater context of the other persons life, that's
pettiness. 

None of this is intended to argue that Harry is perfect, untainted, or
what have you. As Mick was saying, I agree, this is a point of view
that I felt needed to be raised when it seemed to me that the HBP
cheat notes / morality debate was being nutted out extensively in a
box that didn't accurately represent Harry Potter's life. 

...anyhoo, I'll leave the last word to you Magpie, thanks much for
sharing the floor with me :)

Best always
Valky