Fullatricks is giving me the eye…

First, Harry had empathy to begin with because of his Dursely upbringing. He came into the books suffering as an abused outcast, so could empathize with other outcasts. But he also endured, for example, the Cruciatus Curse at the end of GoF, which gave him empathy for Neville’s parents and those in the Order. His experiences with the Ministry made him burn for justice. He suffered over and over in a way his classmates never did. Because he suffered much, he loved much.

Tony Blair may likely had some very meaningful things to say at Yale. I encourage you to read this week’s Time magazine article titled “Tony Blair’s Leap of Faith.” http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1810020,00.html

Speaking of leaders (take the earwax out, Harvard grumps), we need visionary leaders like Blair who can inspire people to rise above their pettier selves (dying to self?) and help meet the many and crushing needs in the world.

Off to feed the “suffering” kitties some treats…

The two parts of the speech don’t connect. First she says (extreme summary here) don’t be afraid of failure, it’ll teach you vital life lessons. Then she says, try to imagine what life is like for those less privileged than you so you can use your privilged status to help make the world a better place.

They are both important points, and well worth making, no doubt about that. But how do they relate to one another? To me it’s like she’s making two mini-speeches rather than one integrated one. And that’s what she more or less says:

“I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ‘real life’, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.”

But perhaps that’s just my inability to see the connections.

My other point is this. The example she cites of the cruelty and suffering she witnessed, second hand, at Amnesty International, is not very successful. The trembling of the torture victim as he describes his experience is moving enough. But his cry as he hears of his mother’s death is a little stagey. And the co-worker’s cry for a hot drink just doesn’t belong in the same narrative. It’s not very good story telling. And to those who would respond that this was not a story but real-life, I say: but she was trying to make a point. She could have made it better, that’s all.

But these are quibbles. She stood before the bright but spoiled children of privilege and exhorted them, gently, to remember that glory is fleeting (thank you, revgeorge!) and to remember as well those less priviliged than themselves. They should invite her back every year to do the same for all of their graduating classes.

Bull’s eye.

We’re pretty much 100% on giving two thumbs up to the Harvard speech.

Does anyone see how it could have been better?

Curious John

How’s this for a classic JKR double edged joke?

“This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.”

Meaning number one:
How fun! What a crazy idea. No graduation speaker is going to convince someone to change sexual orientation or give someone the power to do magic.

Yet in the postmodern sense I think taking on some of the characteristics of a “gay wizard” is exactly what JKR is asking the graduates to do. She encourages them not to dismiss the powerful “magic” of imagination but to use it to bring about change. And she asks them to be “gay” not in the sense of sexual orientation, but in the sense of seeing things as an outsider sees them and being aware of those aren’t values by the majority.

I thought it was a wonderful speech.

“From the moment we walk through the gates of Harvard Yard, they constantly emphasize that we are the leaders of tomorrow”

What should, exactly, the leaders of tomorrow have a firm grasp of?
Seems like the ability to imagine & envision a “tomorrow” and a perspective on failure & perseverance might be at the top of the list…

I love John’s description of the address as “safety net” for some of the graduates. It reminds me of a NPR story I heard circa 2 years ago about a professor – at Harvard, I’m almost positive — lamenting his students’ inabililty to deal with open-ended assignments.

He was describing how the current crop of undergraduates had been groomed their whole lives to “over”-achieve & were guided by well-constructed processes along the way. e.g. – do “X” amount of community service; take “x” amount of AP classes; make “X” GPA; score “X” on your SAT. So, when faced with developing projects from scratch, they were lost without an “X” to aim for. Instead, they became highly-stressed and harangued him to tell them what he “wanted” them to say or do. If that doesn’t demonstrate both a lack of imagination & fear of failure, I don’t know what does!

Measuring your progress in life as a series of X-spots hit in succession was precisely what Ms. Rowling was warning against, too. I thought her comment that a Harvard graduate’s definition of failure might look alot like another person’s definition of success was great.

I loved that she emphasized imagination as the uniquely human and empowering quality that can allow us to create positive change in the world: “we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” — also important & interesting that she described imagination as “morally neutral”…

I agree with John that this speech is one of, if not the, best articulations straight-from-the-author’s mouth on her opinion of the value of Harry’s story to her readers.

And thanks to oshove for the Dursleys & “mental agoraphobia” take! Awesome!

There’s no such thing as cats that read maps.

Do you think any of the attendees remember what Mr. Blair said? I wonder if he remembers what he said. His biographers, if meticulous (or bored), may give it a look; I doubt they will mention his Yale speech in their work about the man.

In contrast, I’m confident Ms. Rowling’s remarks at Harvard will be cited by critics of her writing and of imaginative literature in general much like Tolkienites cite JRRT’s work on Fairy Stories. Count on it.

Seriously, though, I liked the comment you referenced near the end. “They’ll grow up.” Ah, the folly of our youth. When we thought we knew it all & didn’t need to learn anything from anybody. When we were full of ourselves & thought ourselves at the top of the heap, ready to tame the world. I imagine those youthful feelings must be exaggerated in people who’ve been told they’re the best & brightest. Life, unfortunately, won’t treat them any more kindly than it does the rest of us.

The reaction shows how sorely JKR’s gentle reality check was needed – don’t get too carried away by all this, a lot of it is inessential; open your minds to the suffering of those less fortunate than you so you may do some real good.

And it shows as well that it did fall on deaf ears. A few deaf ears, anyways.

Oh well, she did her part. And did it well, I think.