User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4148046-20110714203849

What does Harry Potter mean to me? Harry Potter means a reason for me to follow my British obsession, and stare t my favorite British actors and actresses on the TV for hours for the bast 10 years. Harry Potter means reading books over and over, expanding my mind. It also meant helping to teach others to read by reading the book series with them. Harry Potter means allowing one's self to become fully immersed in a world that they can't experience except in their imagination, growing that imagination, and taking it to a whole new level. Harry Potter means working on my own writing for school, for fun, and my 5 year work in progress fan fiction. Harry Potter means becoming attached, to characters, ideas, worlds, and building bonds that felt nearly real. True fans shed many a tear with each beloved character death. Harry Potter means a riddle. Each time you read you learn something new. What's more, you may realize the mythological influences within the stories. It gives you something else to read, something else to learn about, and furthers your search for what other secrets lie within. Harry Potter means entertainment. How many people thought that books were fun, a fair few, but I bet a few more joined their ranks after the series came out!

Finally, Harry Potter means change and opportunity. A few months ago, a few friends of mine who became hooked back in high school were discussing the upcoming movie. Someone mentioned that it would be an end of our childhoods (we were an imaginative group, still somewhat kids at heart), and that it was marking a time to move on and grow up. I agreed at the time, it seemed right. Now I disagree, it is not an end, but a change. We no longer live in anticipation, the series has come to an end. While this could mark the time to begin a new obsession, it is not a certainty. We must adapt, learn to live in the now instead of the what if and when. We no longer live in a world where The Boy Who Lived may die in the next installation, but in a world where The Boy Who Lived (if we were of his world) saved ours. How will we live our lives with that in mind. I guess it means I no longer have any excuses to finish my fan fiction. Now that the series is over, it is time for change. Rowling's story is over. Now it is our turn. We, the bibliophiles of the 21st century will be the authors of the next big adventure. Be it, fiction, nonfiction, dinosaurs, mermaids, scientists, or wizards, the story is for us to decide, and us to create. We should embrace the chance that has been given us, the hope and inspiration, the broadening of our minds, the growth of our imaginations; the future is ours to write.

I know I myself should be finishing my fan fiction soon, but after that? Maybe I or the person who posts after me, will be the next person to change a generation with their writing and the world with our imaginations!