It wasn't pointless (SPOILER)

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> 
wrote:
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> It wasn't pointless... (snip)

> What did Harry learn from it? He learned what grief is. (snip)

> Why was it important for Harry to learn this? Because he needs 
> to understand what Dumbledore was hinting to Voldemort. What 
> Dumbledore wishes Voldemort knew is that the pain of losing 
> someone you care about is worse than dying.   What can keep 
> Harry going, through what he has to face now, without giving into 
> hate, except the knowledge of what it would cost Ron and 
> Hermione to lose him?

I don't agree that Dumbledore was saying that bereavement is worse 
than dying. (Altho' we have not seen him telling the bereaved person 
whom he is comforting: "terrible as this pain is, wouldn't it be 
worse to have avoided the pain of bereavement by never having had 
the love and friendship of that relationship?")

I think he was saying that living a life with nothing that one feels 
would be worth dying for is worse than dying -- people who don't at 
all *want* to die accept the risk for what they consider an adequate 
reason, such as trying to save their child from immediate danger, or 
defending their country, or refusing to disown their faith...  

These are some things he may have meant as "the" thing worse than 
dying: 1) living in constant fear of death, 2) living without ever 
feeling love or helping people, 3) living with no ideals to live up 
to.