To the Woman Behind the Boy Who Lived

“He couldn’t know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: ‘To Harry Potter-- the boy who lived!’” -Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Well, the people certainly are not meeting in secret anymore, but today people all over the world are raising their glasses to Ms. J.K. Rowling and her universally beloved character. The boy who lived has lived in literature accessible to the public for twenty years, and there can be no argument he has made a significant impact on the world, both in fiction and in reality.

Many of you who know me have heard my endless commentary on how much I love Rowling’s wizarding world. For one thing, some critical points and characters in the Harry Potter story gave me new perspective regarding myself. Moreover, the books are thickly interwoven with the message of the gospel, with countless instances of sacrificial love, life from death, and redemption.

But the thing I love most about Harry Potter is not any of these qualities--though I do find all of them valuable and they increase my love of the works exponentially. The thing I love most about Harry Potter is Rowling herself: how she dreamed it all up in the most ordinary moment, how she subtly and quietly used her art to convey what mattered to her, and how she has humbly watched as people have attempted to pick apart her work from every direction, fully assured in the fact that her art is beautiful, that it is profound, and that it matters.

Rowling’s art does matter. All art matters. Literature, visual art, film, and music are just a few small but powerful ways of expressing ideas and themes that could not otherwise be expressed. Sometimes, simple words fail. Sometimes, pictures make all the difference in understanding. Sometimes, a song comes on the radio, and just a few short minutes later the listener is a different person than they were before. Art changes people, and good art changes people for the better.

So today, while we celebrate the triumph of Harry Potter, let’s also celebrate the triumph of J.K. Rowling: who would stop at nothing to make good art, and who, as a result, has changed millions of people for the better.

Ms. Rowling, if I never experience a fraction of the success you have known, I hope I can still be just like you someday in that I can stand proudly behind the art I have made and know that someone somewhere is better, happier, and overall changed because of it.

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” -Colossians 3:17