I am very much sure that most, if not all of you reading this piece, might have watched the movie “Harry Potter” or read the books authored by J.K. Rowling. If you do not know who he is then I urge you to drive to Danquah circle, heading towards the Police headquarters. Between the Police hospital and the SIC building, you will see a bill board advertising the new Harry Porter sequel “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”.
The blond hair boy in a blue jacket, spotting a round framed shaped eye glasses is Harry Porter. He is the boy endowed with the supernatural powers to confront and defeat the agents of evil bent on destroying the world. In short Harry Potter is the “savior” of the world. The movie according to box office reports grossed 330.1 million dollars as at December, 5th, 2010.
I am not an ardent Harry Porter fan. In fact I have never watched any of his movies, albeit glimpses of it. The reason is simple; I am not a lover of such type of movies; not to mention the number of hours one has to sit behind the TV to watch a single movie.
I am sure you are asking why I am writing about Harry Potter if I have not seen any of his movies. The question is absolutely legitimate. And I will tell you. I happened to visit a friend and whiles we were deeply engrossed in our tete-a-tete, his young niece came running towards where we sat and asked a very simple but upon reflection a deeper, thought-provoking one. Her question was; “Uncle, how come Harry Potter can save the world but can’t save his sight?’’. The two of us did cud on the question for a while but could not give her, on hind sight a very reasonable or satisfactory explanation. So last week whiles driving around Danquah circle and seeing that bill board, I had a flash back of the question which this little, intelligent young woman asked. That question is the inspiration behind this piece. Why can’t Harry Potter cure his eye defect?
If that question has been asked today I will have given her an answer. A philosophical one. My answer would have been this: some many times we humans get so much concerned about saving the world that we forget about ourselves-our little problems. The demands of this era often makes it very difficult for us all to think about ourselves, families, friends and things or people who are very dear to us. Let me illustrate my point.
Homes are breaking apart among other things because couples have concerned themselves to the pertinent issues of bread and butter which usually end up in one feeling he or she is not getting the attention or companionship that they deserve. Don’t forget that the satisfaction of that emotional need is the primary reason for which they got married or got into that relationship in the first place.
What about fathers who pay minimal attention to their children’s activities that these kids end up becoming delinquents. It is not as if these fathers don’t love their kids but they have sacrificed their children’s development for chasing wealth. How many times have we not heard of kids of pastors going wayward despite their father’s desperate attempts at reforming society. Stories abound of once-happy-going couples who have become arch-rivals and all attempts at reconciling them have remained but a wish. The reason being that none of them want to accept the fact that they have some inadequacies they need to work on. They are trapped in their follies, to para-phrase the Holy Book. Ironically, these people will turn around and try saving other people’s situations (squabbles) by advising them. The poignant point is that here they are (on individual basis) helping others out to solve probably the same problems they might be facing.
Talk to young men and women who have just come out of relationships. One thing you will realize is that depending on who you might be talking to that person will condemn everyone except him or herself. A further probing will show that the person talking will be at fault in one way or the other but they will fanatical deny they are at fault.
Husbands or wives may treat strangers, colleagues at work, friends, and extended family members with puppy love but will treat their partners; the ones they have vowed to love “till death do us part” like dirt. They abuse them both physically and verbally sometimes with no provocation.
Take for instance a Chief Executive of a company who dismisses the suggestions of his employees at meetings for he considers his ideas as premium quality. When his ideas fail to garner the desired or expectant results he turns around and blames everyone; forgetting he was advised but failed to listen. Again, a boss who is rude to his staff may end up loosing the best people who could have helped him transform his business from a small-scaled one to an empire. Those who will remain might not be motivated enough. The consequence is a wobbly company if he is lucky. A failed one if he is not. But ask him or her why his company failed, they will tell you the workers are t. o blame.
What about a student who will woefully flunk his or her papers and adduce the reason that his teacher did not give his or her best or because the teacher does not like him or her when in actual fact the student spent man- hours on frivolous things at the expense of his books. Ask a businessman who squanders his profits on luxury instead of investing it in his business why his business is on its knees, he will either point his fingers at his enemies or detractors or some evil forces but never accept that he wrongly invested his profits.
This temptation of people leaving their problems on stand-by whiles they attempt to find solutions to other peoples’ challenges was something Confucius advised against. Two thousand, five hundred years before Jesus was birthed, the great Chinese sage, Confucius stated; “it is not wise to tell your neighbor to clear the heap of snow at his doorway when you have a tall one sitting in front of your door”. In short we spend a preponderant of our time, energy, resources trying to identify and administer solutions; albeit its enormity when the little ones that needs the application or devotion of something little to right it is either ignored (advertently or otherwise) by us.
So whiles the demands of life is making us pay attention to issues of money-spending hours at work and so on, we should take time to “look within’” and solve the little thrusting, piercing and or pricking challenges that we face or confronts us. One thing we need to remember is that it is a good thing to save the world. Saving the world will not grant us immunity from our “afflictions”. That is, whiles we are running the 100 yards of life; we should pause and see that we still are having problems with our eyes which we need to treat. It’s always good to help others cross the river but you should not lend to them the only canoe which you will be using. Dealing with your own problems head-on is one sure way of making the world a better place. Let’s not be like Harry Porter. Let’s treat our eye-sight for we might not know when may loose our sight-aiding kit; our glasses
Swaye kidd © 02/04/2011
this is my first post as a blogger. I pray you'll like it. Thanks.
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