Harry Potter Personal Development:: Compassion and Kindness

For the first time I’m writing about what we can learn from Harry’s mistakes and not his example. Please understand that I think the Harry Potter character is human and of course is bound to make mistakes if the novel is to be good.

Harry Potter complains about his aunt and uncle and their lame Christmas gifts each year but did he ever send them anything? Harry hates Malfoy and for good reason but does he ever do anything at all to even try to help or mend the relationship?

Harry Potter is young and perhaps we should only expect so much from him, but we can learn from this bad example. A little compassion and understanding can go a long way. When it all comes down to it I dare say that in the 7 books we read Harry never gives his family a reason to love him. Even when people treat us with complete disregard and contempt we must learn to take the higher road and show kindness and respect to everyone. The attitude that we learn to adopt in our lives always comes back to us even if it takes time.

Action steps: Think of the people with whom you have a rough relationship and sort out a way to mend it. Often times transparent communication is a good place to start.