User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4163378-20110718075801

It's extremely hard for me to briefly answer what Harry Potter means to me. I could tell you in one word, though, that it means one thing: Hope. When I was younger, I wanted to fit in like any young child does. I wanted to be normal since I was brought up getting major surgeries once every two or three years and it's hard to feel normal when you're the only child with large scars others can see. So, I lied and told my parents that I didn't like to read and refused to do so when the fact was that I liked to read very, very much and I was much better at it than most other students my age. So when I knew my parents wouldn't bother me, I'd steal away into my closet to read boxed up picture books. Well my parents, of course, knew that I went away into my room to read my old books that I'd read over and over again. So one day, after seeing a 60 Minutes special about J.K. Rowling, my mom and dad brought me to the bookstore downtown and bought me Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone despite my many protests. By the end of the car ride home, I couldn't put the book down and continued reading it through the night. I remember my mom having to practically drag me away from the book to get me to go to bed. From that night onward, I was hooked. Not two or three months later (hey, I was eight at the time!) I finished Sorcerer's Stone and began asking for Chamber of Secrets. The books followed me as I grew up and into middle school, when my peers began to realize I wasn't like them. I didn't fit in, so I was easy to pick on. There were times when I considered transferring schools or asking to be home schooled. For a brief moment I even wondered who would miss me if I died. But then one day I realized, strangely, that I couldn't give up. I thought of all the characters in the Harry Potter books who would be disappointed in me for giving up if they knew me. And I vowed to myself that I would never let down those characters. For a middle-school aged me, that was good enough of a reason to keep pushing through each day. Of course, the bullies eventually stopped and I found a place where I fit in; at my local library, helping with annual trips to book festivals for the youth group at my library and even hosting their very first Harry Potter night before the release of the fourth film! As the movies now come to an end, I smile and think back at how much I learned from the characters who inspired me. Harry Potter taught me to stand up for what was right, even if it wasn't easy. Hermione Granger taught me that there are things more important to know who you are, instead of who others wanted you to be. Ron Weasley taught me that a true friend will always come back to you. Draco Malfoy taught me that sometimes we make the wrong choices, but that doesn't mean it's the end for us. Dumbledore's Army taught me that if you stand together for what's right and are loyal to your friends, no one can stop you. The Marauder's taught me that there isn't always a happy ending, but sometimes that's okay. In some ways, I like to think Hogwarts taught me more than any other schools ever have or ever will. There is a reason that I have "Mischief Managed" tattooed onto my wrist. It's there to remind me of the hope and the life beyond "The end" as the films come to a close. One day, I hope my children will find the same hope in these stories as I did.