Harry Potter Blitz

Well, Harry Potter Mania is whipping itself into a frenzy in our house these days. Yesterday we watched both
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on ABCFamily. This "blitz" is all leading up to the release of the 5th movie in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, this coming Wednesday. As an added treat, last night we stumbled on a show on A&E, Harry Potter : The Hidden Secrets, which focused on the first 5 novels/movies while giving tidbits of hints at the newest movie. As a refresher and to get us back up to speed, my 11yo and I have been (re)reading the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We still have 200 pages to go and the movie opens Wednesday so the rush is on!

You know, I've been thinking about an aspect of the series that my sons and I have talked about before and that was touched upon in the A&E series last night and it actually ties in with one of my main spiritual values. The umbrella message for the entire series seems to be coming forward as the necessity of unity in order to conquer evil. The natural inclination in both the Harry Potter world and in our real world is to divide into subgroups and to isolate from those who are different. But Harry is learning (as should we) that the real way to make the world a better place and to shine light onto the darkness is for us all to join together. We need to eliminate that "us vs. them" mentality because it only leads us further down the darkened path. Whether the others are of a different race or religion or whether they're Slytherins or Mudbloods, we are better off if we reach out in friendship to each other rather than cutting ourselves off from them. It is all about love and friendship and there is strength in unity.