Cassidy's #9: JKR

JKR at Harvard: "So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."


Joanne "Jo" Rowling: Most beautiful, inspirational, brilliant woman alive. Rags to riches in under five years but she has never forgotten the importance of humility and gratitude. Her personal story is on every page of the Harry Potter novels and thank God because the real life themes are what make these books so fantastic and relatable.
After the death of her mother and her separation from her first husband, Jo was diagnosed with clinical depression. "So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew." She has described this time in her life as a feeling of numbness, not of sadness...perhaps like all the happiness had gone from the world? That's right. Dementors. The hardships in the Potter novels are abundant and the characters deal with them in very real ways and most importantly, they learn from them. Just as Jo said in her Harvard speech, we can't be afraid of failure. "You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default."
However, as we all know, love is the prevailing theme in the Potter novels but not in a cheesy, contrived way. We've all read the books one hundred times. We know. Magic spells are cool but love is real magic, blah blah blah. Seriously, though. In the Potter books, Harry's mother's love very literally protects him from death. Harry defeats Voldemort, not because he is a supremely skilled wizard; he's not! He was able to defeat Voldemort because the combined forces of good are greater than the combined forces of evil. Love prevails. Every time, love prevails.
Sure, in a lot of ways, the world is a really shitty place to be. We've got genocide and terrorism and corporate greed but the Harry Potter novels remind us that, although we may be overwhelmed by the forces of evil, time and time again love proves to be greater. Always.
Oprah: What do you know for sure?
JK Rowling: Well, I definitely know that – that love is the most powerful thing of all and I remember thinking that – God, I’m about to make myself cry but, I remember thinking that when 9/11 happened because those last phone calls were about – the last thing knowingly, that I’m going to say on this earth is “I love you”. What’s more powerful than that? What’s more proof than that? Beyond fear, beyond death.
WELL, I'M REASSURED!
Last week I went to a memorial service for my friend's nephew who had died when he was five days old. The couple's feeling of loss was heavy but family and friends surrounded them in support and in love's warm embrace they were able to smile through their tears. Their son may not be with them physically anymore but the love that he inspired in them and, in turn, in the community, will always be present and alive. Perhaps we don't live beyond death in a literal sense. We live on in our accomplishments, our offspring, and, most importantly, the people we touch - the people who love us. That's magic.

There is one more reason why JKR was my selection for today. The characters live on with her. They are not just letters on a page, they are like parts of Jo's soul, in a completely non-horcrux-like way. Harry Potter's story continues.
I love you, JKR! Thank you for everything you've done for all of us.