On Children and the "Other" (was:Re: On the perfection of moral virtues)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 169513

> 
> houyhnhnm:
> 
> What happens after Voldemort is defeated? 
<snip>
> If people are not good or bad according to their 
> acts--bullying versus fair play, lying versus 
> truthfulness, etc.--but only as they oppose the Big 
> Bad of the day or not, then when Voldemort is gone, 
> there will be no standard of right and wrong, just a 
> chaos of everyone for him or herself, alliances 
> constantly breaking and reforming, until finally 
> a new evil Dark Lord emerges to restore a sense of 
> order again. 

Pippin:
The story is very clear on what the ultimate act of
evil is -- it's murder. The identical aim that 
Dumbledore is talking about isn't the defeat of 
Voldemort, it's the prevention of murder, IMO. 
The open heart seems to be the recognition that
everyone who is not a murderer has a right to
be what they are, even if what they are is a great
bullying git. Dumbledore seems to think that those
who have risked their own lives to prevent murder 
and refused to become killers themselves are worthy 
of some honor, whatever else they may have done.

Pippin