In ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ Ron asks a rhetorical question at the end of the school year. It’s been a crazy year with death, mayhem, and yes, dragons. He asks, “Do you think we will ever have a quiet year at Hogwarts?” Hermoine replies, “No” to which Ron responds with the above quote.
I was thinking of drawing a scary dragon but I have seen a trend in the story that made me draw a friendly one. What I saw was Harry and his friends constantly being confronted with what looks like an enemy only to find that that enemy is, or could be, a friend. It isn’t true with everyone, but between a villain who turns out to be a godfather (a good godfather, not the mafia type), a giant that turns out to be gentle and creepy skeleton type winged horses that are very helpful we have many examples of an enemy turning into a friend.
Jesus teaches the underlying lesson and it’s quite simple. It’s not enough to love your friends, you must endeavor to love your enemies as well. How does this relate? You can’t love someone or something without getting to know them. Loving from a distance isn’t really love. That only happens when you get up close and personal enough to find what there is to love about the person or thing. It means you forego judgment and take the time to find out what is truly there.
Abraham Lincoln had a great response about this same idea. He said, “Am I not destroying an enemy when I make them my friend?”
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by J.K. Rowling, 1965-not dead yet, British author. Spoken by the character Ron Weasley.
