Potter Fever

Harry Potter fever has gripped the world. Never has a book been so anticipated. Even miserable third world countries waited with excitement for this book. I am no exception to the fever. Pre-ordering my book from Amazon and being patient enough to wait the extra weeks it takes to wend through several mail systems to me was going to be my way of "battling" the fever. At a party last night the talk revolved for a good hour around the book, the new movie and the fact that Harry Potter parties were raging even here. This morning (ok, it was a great party so this morning was really this afternoon - 3:30 this afternoon!) a lovely friend appeared on my doorstep with a copy of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" for me!! Squealing is probably inappropriate for a woman of my age (all I will say is that I am closer to 50 than 40) but it was my response anyway. We then began bouncing up and down, chattering - again - about possible endings. Then we dissolved into laughter about our sudden reversion to the age of 13 and hugged like friends who really care about one another do. Things turned serious at that moment as we realized that tomorrow I depart post and, much like with this book, an era is ending. Not that this means goodbye; if my travels have taught me anything it is that real friends never say goodbye. We may live apart but we are always a part of each other's lives. So how did we become so invested in characters that are fictional and have no real part in our lives? Why do we care so deeply about who lives and who dies? Isn't this just a story, albeit a good story? J.K. Rowling is an exceptional writer. She has developed characters that we all know. We may not really know any wizards but we all know someone who has loved and lost, suffered, been extremely blessed, is unhappy, is inherently evil, is uncommonly good, is truly brave, is a coward, is intelligent, or is just average and muddling through. We identify with these characters whether we are 8 or 80. We are these characters. We struggle with the same basic issues. We want good to triumph over evil and we want doing the right thing to be what drives us through life. We want to know that doing the right thing allows us to look in the mirror with a clear conscience. How wonderful that an author has reminded us that doing the right thing, even when unpopular or difficult, is rewarded in the long run. I haven't read the book yet. But I know this - whoever dies, whoever lives, right will triumph over wrong and the human struggle with good and evil will continue. Not a bad ending. It's a great deal like life itself.