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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Dumbledore knows what he's talking about

I'm in the process of rereading all of the Harry Potter books. I just finished the Goblet of Fire.

Near the end of the book, Harry has been through hell. He's lost. Everyone around him is lost. This is the advice Dumbledore gives:
"Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can  there be recovery. He needs to know."
The most powerful part of that to me is only with acceptance can there be recovery.
I had to accept I was abused. I had to accept it wasn't my fault, and there is nothing I could have done to change it. I had to accept that it has changed me and my life forever. I had to accept that some of the people that were supposed to love me the most are the ones that hurt me the most. I had to accept that what I thought was love, wasn't. I had to accept that I am who I am, and I've come to accept ME.

And then came recovery. The REAL recovery. The kind that leaves me feeling peaceful, fulfilled, happy, and connected to the people that love me.

(Back to the book) Harry was exhausted. He felt like he couldn't push any more. His friends were telling him to rest, sleep, take a break. Dumbledore had more advice.
"If I thought I could help you," Dumbledore said gently, "by putting you into an enchanted sleep and allowing you to postpone the moment when you would have to think about what has happened tonight, I would do it. But I know better. Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you. I ask you to demonstrate your courage one more time. I ask you to tell us what happened."
There is a time for postponing and numbing the pain. I am positive I would not have survived without all of my various ways of avoiding the pain. If I had been able to deal with it back then, I would have, and it wouldn't have grown in intensity like it did.

Surviving the horrors of life takes great bravery. It also takes courage to stand up and use your voice and "Tell us what happened."

(So much for my "just for fun" reading, huh?)

6 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for that. It's been a while since I read GoF and ... ugh this whole post just screams at me, "You SEE?!" Husband was right all along. Don't tell him I said that. ;)

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  2. I won't tell him. :) You make me smile!!

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  3. That's why I love reading! It has so much in it about life. A good book takes you through a person's life, helps you learn what they learn and hopefully apply it to yourself too! Books are the best, I think that's why the Chronicles of Narnia are my favorite books because there is so much to learn from them it's awesome ^_^

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  4. I loved the HP series!! It's usually hard for me to like fantasy type books since I find it hard to suspend reality, but these are amazing. Keep an eye out for more of these little lessons; they'll keep coming as you keep reading.

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  5. I'm a Dumbledore fan. I need to reread those books. It's been so long since I've read them that the movies have kind of replaced the books in my memory. That is a very unfortunate thing.

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  6. Vin - Welcome!
    Amanda - Yes! Love the little lessons that just come now that I'm looking.
    Jeff - That IS unfortunate. The Dumbledore in the movies is not nearly as cool as the Dumbledore in the books.

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