Harry Potter (no spoilers)

I saw the Harry Potter movie last weekend.

It was at the Dublin IMAX in partial 3D. Hey if I am going to see it might as well make it something special right?

I am not a Harry Potter Person. I haven't read any books and I think I saw parts of 2 of the movies. But it is really a pretty simple story, so I "get it."

The 3D part came at the end. A little eyeglass logo came on the screen and everybody put on their glasses. It worked really well. Except they were a little small for my fathead. Ahh well so it goes with a fathead.

So I think everybody there thought it was a good movie and a fun way to spend a few hours.

After the movie I wondered what people take away from the story of Harry Potter? Not just this movie, but all the books and movies?

No no not the "oh kids will turn to Satan worshipers" issue. BTW I don't think H.P. does that, but well if my kid worshiped Satan I would deal with it pretty quick.

No, I wonder if anyone gets the message that there are bad people out there and bad things happen because they want them to happen. Not in some fairy land of H.P. but really.

Because of that maybe it is a good idea to teach a kid how to fight. Hey for a major part of the movie that is just what H.P. does. The better you are at fighting the less likely you are to get your asterisk kicked in life.

It happens when you are young and in school, and later in life. On a personal level, and on a much bigger world stage.

Knowing when to use those fighting skills is pretty important of course. You still will lose some, but you will also win. And I don't always mean throwing down in the back alley, but sometimes I do.

We can all hope to live in a love, love, love, world, and hope everybody else is on the same page. But they're not.

Does Harry Potter inspire increased attendance in self defense classes?

Do kids say

"I want to be strong and confident and be able to defend myself from bad people for the rest of my life. Teach me when and how to fight, when and how to shoot a gun, how to be strong, and how to be a leader. I might never have to use these skills, but teach me."

Maybe some do.

A G.K. Chesterton quote:

A child's instinct is almost perfect in the matter of fighting; a child always stands for the good militarism as against the bad. The child's hero is always the man or boy who defends himself suddenly and splendidly against aggression. The child's hero is never the man or boy who attempts by his mere personal force to extend his mere personal influence. In all boys' books, in all boys' conversation, the hero is one person and the bully the other.

Here's a book, here's another.

P.S. At my Catholic High School on the border of San Pablo and Richmond I took gun safety lessons with rifles and handguns in a class taught by a priest. That probably still happens at some schools, but probably not around here.