Rob (my husband) and I have recently been watching (very slowly) through the Harry Potter series. While watching the 5th movie (Hrry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) I found myself continually saying, " I feel like this is very different from the books..." So, after finishing the movie I picked up the book. I was right- a lot is different but that's not my purpose in writing today.
As I was reading I was reminded of something that's been impressed on me before and that's how powerfully fiction can speak truth about sometimes complicated human experiences. There are studies (like this one) that show that reading fiction can increase readers empathy when they have some sort of "emotional transportation" or connection to the story they are reading. Which, I think, is pretty awesome.
Near the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (in the books) there is a scene near the end just after the funeral of their beloved headmaster where Harry informs his friends he won't be returning back to school the next year and that he plans to complete a task that his headmaster started and gave to him. His friend's response was the thing that struck me. They, without hesitation, assumed they would be coming with him and we're firm that he wasn't going to be doing it alone.
I think so often in life when we are faced with hard things we feel that we have to bear their weight alone. Harry is somewhat surprised by his friend's firm and sure response...that they will be going with him and don't see how they could consider anything else. I think that often we don't give people the chance to surprise us with their firm and sure response of, "Of course we'll walk through this with you." Now, if you've read the book or, I don't know, experienced life...then you know his friends and our friends won't do this perfectly or exactly as we hoped but they are there and trying and sitting with us.
Once I had this thought in my head it brought Lord of the Rings to mind. I'm not as strong in my detailed knowledge of Lord of the Rings but the one thing that always sticks out to me is how firmly his friends stick by him, most of them unaware at the beginning of how difficult it will become. While Frodo has to carry the weight of the ring on his own -and sometimes it's weight and power is overwhelming- they stick with him... especially Sam. I just love that reminder. That things will not magically become easier but that the "task" might become possible when we are surrounded by people who support us and want to see our "success" (whatever that success may be). Now I know that the weight that Frodo carries was a little different in that he had a ring that could basically destroy the world (I apologize LOTR fans for my oversimplification) and most of us don't carry a weight like that. But I think each of us can, at times or for a long time, carry a weight that feels like it could destroy or feel like it's controlling our world.
To move back to Harry Potter (sorry for all those non-Harry Potter fans...hopefully you are able to find your own fiction moment that reflects what I'm discussing) as this thought was still rolling around in my head we started to watch the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In true parenting fashion we only got about an hour in but in that time it got to a part where this idea stood out to me again. The three friends have found one of the objects that they are searching for in their task. Basically, to simplify things, it's an locket that contains a dark (evil) magic that makes the wearer more negative, insecure, sad, unmotivated, lacking hope etc.
In the movies there is a scene where Harry Potter has been wearing the necklace and starts to get frustrated and overwhelmed and Hermione gets him to take it off. Once he takes it off and hands it to her she asks if he feels better and he in surprise and relief says yes. They move forward taking turns wearing the locket...sharing the load.
Now, obviously, with our own struggles we can't literally take them off ourselves and put them on someone else. But, in sharing our struggles with trusted individuals, the weight can become lighter or feel more bearable. Things didn't suddenly improve for Harry, Hermione or Ron when they were no longer wearing the locket but they were able to see things more clearly or differently now that the weight wasn't so heavily on them anymore.
This is why I love fiction! It has the power to speak truth to us in a way that maybe feels easier to accept or suddenly, in seeing it in a different light, we realize the power a different perspective or view or approach can hold.
It doesn't surprise me when I reflect on this that Christ so often used stories to share a truth with us or the people who followed him. I mean He created us so He knows how our brains are wired and we are wired, I believe, for stories. To be moved by stories and for them to be able to speak to us in ways that a simple statement of fact or truth might not be able to.
Is there a book that you've read that impacted you or changed the way you saw things? I'd love to know!
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