September 14, 2012

From the 'Boy who Lived' to the 'Boy will live'

(First published online on July 11, 2011)
 
Last year, I came to watch the premiere screening of the first of the two-part finale of the Harry Potter series. As always, I did find time to enter it on my busy schedule since it’s one of those films that truly entertain me. However, instead of being entertained, I felt sad after watching the Death Hallows; sad definitely not because the film was not good but because after almost a decade of being a die-hard Potter fanatic, the time that I would have to say goodbye to the film is coming.

This week, curtains will finally close on the story of the boy wizard. But before it closes, let me first share how the book and also its film adaptation influenced my life for the past years that I was aging.

My passion accidentally started in 2003 when I was looking for a nice channel with a good show. We still had cable back then and I was a type of person who was not satisfied on one channel alone. As I scan every station, I found out that in GMA7, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (first installment) was being played. I was not yet a Potter fan then and the market of HP was just growing. On the other hand, HBO telecasted their premier of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second installment.

It occurred to me that in just one night two parts of Harry Potter was being shown on television so I stayed for a while and watched for myself what the fuss was all about. It was like a eureka moment for me that I said to myself; hey, this was a one damn good story. It might be for children and back then, I still considered myself as one of the so-called ‘kids’.

I also found out that in two days, its third installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban would be released in theaters. That suddenly sparked my curiosity that I easily became hooked on the story.

After watching the third part, my addiction bloomed. From then on, I began reading the novel. I also started collecting HP novelty items like mug, pins, towels, posters, t-shirts, news clippings, magazines, etc. And like what they always say: the rest is history. 

I am not used to crying everytime I read a book or watch a film but perhaps as I watch its final installment on Thursday, surely, tears would definitely pour before my eyes for it’s like saying goodbye to the one that you truly love. It will never be easy but you know that you have to move on.

It’s hard but all you can do is just go on with your life and use the things that you have learned to be a better individual.

Perhaps, I’m exaggerating but the mere fact that I was just reading some reviews (thanks, by the way to PDI for a very wonderful supplement or tribute), and it already made my eyes moist, I think it would really be hard for me.

For all I know, Harry Potter is not just a simple story or novel to me. It’s not also a simple addiction that after few treatments, you can already wash it away from your thoughts. For me, Harry Potter has been part of my life.

For the past decade, I was like anticipating every summer or every November for the installment.

For the past decade, I was acting gaga collecting even the smallest stuffs connected to the franchise.

For the past decade, my heart bounced that I never realize, the happiness that I was feeling towards the novel and the films would come to an end.

Harry Potter taught me not only certain things about good versus evil. Its greatest contribution was teaching me how to live my life more meaningful.

It was in Harry Potter that I learned how to value my friends. It was in the story that I learned how to focus on my studies but not letting go of my social life. It was in the series that I found out the different important things that sometimes we overlook in life.

I don’t know how or why other fans had been addicted too on the story, but to me, it’s a matter of giving life to what didn’t know before.

Truly, the magical world of Harry Potter became my escape from the bitterness or darkness in life. I may not be in the real location of the story, but I was like in the middle of every scene asking for help from the main characters.

For the past decade, Harry Potter served as my antidote to the illness facets of this muggle world and saying goodbye is like detaching your physical body from your shadow. It is impossible.

Once you’ve been struck by the power of the magic wand; the world that you knew, the world that was shared to you by J.K. Rowling will surely live in your memory.

The book of the bespectacled boy who lived perhaps will be put to its last chapter but its story will remain. Just like what Sirius Black mentioned in the third installment, we must not be worried for the ones that we love will never really leave us, we can always find them here in our hearts…

Harry Potter lives.



P.S.

Thank you Johann Kathleen Rowling for sharing a part of you that helped our lives be aligned with what is right.

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