[HPforGrownups] hagrid's emotions over his pets

[Lynda Cordova]

No: HPFGUIDX 168806

Sherry:

 I am accompanied through my life by a
wonderful black lab guide dog. I also now work in Admissions for the
organization from where I received all my guide dogs. At least a couple
times a month, I'm in tears over something that happened to a dog, or from a
conversation with a person who desperately wants a guide dog but is not
ready and who has given up hope on life because of becoming blind. But the
biggest tears are over the dogs--dogs who get sick, who are neglected or
treated badly, or just dogs who are little more than mobility tools to their
blind handlers, not really beloved companions. Even before starting this
particular job, I would cry over any story of cruelty or pain to an animal
or children, even as I rarely cry over pain or hurt to myself. Though I am
nearly 50, I cannot read books that have scenes of animal or child cruelty.
Does this mean I am not handling things in a mature way or that I blubber
like a child? I don't think so, and of course, I don't think anyone here
would think so. I'm just sensitive and compassionate about the animals and
kids in the world.

So, yeah, as an adult, I do like Hagrid. I feel for him. He is simple and
childlike in many ways. I always thought it was because society had never
taught him to hide his emotions or to "act like an adult". There are many
flaws to Hagrid's character, but the fact that he cries over his pets and
needs the help of children is hardly one of them in my opinion. He's
actually refreshing in the PotterVerse. And, I actually think there is
something more to Hagrid, something important that he knows or will do in
the last book. like Dumbledore, I would trust Hagrid with my life, and
there are few in the WW of whom I would say that, if I met them in real
life.

Lynda:

I work with severely handicapped/Developmentally Disabled kids.  At my work
I deal with emotional as well as physical dysfunction on a pretty normal
basis. An Asperger child who cannot put onto paper what he has just (after
twenty minutes of help) told me verbally. An autistic child who is resistant
to joining the class for lunch for some reason known only to him/herself. A
high functioning child with no emotional control who has to "go with Teacher
for a walk" to keep the rest of the class from being disrupted (this, btw
all occurred on one day, in one classroom before one in the afternoon), so I
see a lot of emotional upheaval pretty much on a daily basis and I kind of
understand Hagrid. No one ever bothered to teach him the social niceties.
"We don't cry in public. It embarrasses others", etc., and I kind of like
him. Like the kids I work with, he doesn't know any different and he could
not learn, so its not his fault.--and, btw, I cry when my pets get hurt or
sick. I had to give up my last cat when we moved to the apartment I live in
now, and it just about killed me.

Lynda


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