Excellent question, Mr Longbottom! And it has multiple answers.
First, remember that although it may seem to you as if only you kids have and use these journals, my audience is much wider than the confines of Hogwarts and her charges.
Second, it's hard to tell whether I'm making a difference or not, and it may be years before we know for sure. But I don't intend to give up, not while I have the means to try. Perhaps it's the Gryffindor in me; some might say it's just that I've got the same stubborn streak as all the rest of my family, only opposed to them in most respects - doesn't really matter. Whatever the reason, I mean to keep saying what I say. Eventually someone will come to a tipping point, and then someone else, and someone else, until finally there are enough people who say, 'Enough.'
And third, the fact that you are children, still young and forming your beliefs, makes you possibly my most important readers. Grown-ups are frightened; their opinions are harder to influence;, they have more to lose by standing up. All I can do is remind them of what they already know, and hope they have the courage to act on it.
But you can change the world, Longbottom: you and the others, if only you refuse to accept what others tell you is right when your heart tells you it's wrong. In many ways, this fight is for you and about you, about the legacy that we adults leave to you, and whether it will be one of oppression or one of freedom. So it only makes sense that you take a part in it, in what small ways you're able.
Of course, that doesn't mean anyone wants you to be foolhardy. Your parents would kill me if you got yourself in hot water, especially if it's because of something I say. Only listen to your conscience, Longbottom, and do what you feel you can, and don't take needless risks, and one day, yes, you can do something more if that's what you want to do.
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Date: 2009-02-13 02:37 pm (UTC)First, remember that although it may seem to you as if only you kids have and use these journals, my audience is much wider than the confines of Hogwarts and her charges.
Second, it's hard to tell whether I'm making a difference or not, and it may be years before we know for sure. But I don't intend to give up, not while I have the means to try. Perhaps it's the Gryffindor in me; some might say it's just that I've got the same stubborn streak as all the rest of my family, only opposed to them in most respects - doesn't really matter. Whatever the reason, I mean to keep saying what I say. Eventually someone will come to a tipping point, and then someone else, and someone else, until finally there are enough people who say, 'Enough.'
And third, the fact that you are children, still young and forming your beliefs, makes you possibly my most important readers. Grown-ups are frightened; their opinions are harder to influence;, they have more to lose by standing up. All I can do is remind them of what they already know, and hope they have the courage to act on it.
But you can change the world, Longbottom: you and the others, if only you refuse to accept what others tell you is right when your heart tells you it's wrong. In many ways, this fight is for you and about you, about the legacy that we adults leave to you, and whether it will be one of oppression or one of freedom. So it only makes sense that you take a part in it, in what small ways you're able.
Of course, that doesn't mean anyone wants you to be foolhardy. Your parents would kill me if you got yourself in hot water, especially if it's because of something I say. Only listen to your conscience, Longbottom, and do what you feel you can, and don't take needless risks, and one day, yes, you can do something more if that's what you want to do.