Imagination

On the way home yesterday I listened to a commencement speech given at Harvard by J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. Christians often demonize her work, or Ms. Rowling herself, but I would challenge them to find a more compelling and convicting speech than this.

Rowling speaks of humans as being the only animals capable of imagining ourselves into situations we've never experienced ourselves. Without ever having met someone, we can picture ourselves living their lives. She speaks of her time with Amnesty International and some of the horrific experiences she heard of, and how she had to deal with imagining undergoing those same experiences.

How often do we, as privileged Westerners, bury our heads in the sand and ignore what happens in the world? We (and I say "we" because I do it all the time) drive into our gated communities, watch cable TV but change channels if there's a "sad" story, and try to not imagine the atrocities happening to others. There are horrible things happening in the world right now: babies being slaughtered in front of their mothers in Darfur, people locked up in Chinese prisonsfor practicing their religion, and children starving in Myanmar because their government didn't want to admit there was a problem.

As Americans, we have the strongest voice in the world. If anyone on this planet is listened to, it is the American voter. We have more of an ability to drive change than anyone else in the world. As Rowling says in her speech, we should focus less on associating with the powerful, and focus more on associating with the powerless.

So thank you, Ms. Rowling. I have no idea what your religious viewpoints are, but you have challenged me today as an American, a Christian, and a human. Maybe I'll raise my head out of the sand a little and take a look at the Real World around me.