The Good People and Death Eater Divide

We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.

~J.K. Rowling (by way of her character Sirius Black), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

These lines come from a point in Harry Potter's life when he discovers this strange connection to the super-villain (*whisper*) Voldemort who is so bad most people are terrified to say his name. Their past interaction supernaturally linked them together, and as Harry sees himself changing, becoming angrier, he begins to question his own “goodness.” While this connection is a magical one, this is a point in the book I think would resonate with most of us:

Harry Potter: This connection between me and Voldemort... what if the reason for it is that I am becoming more like him? I just feel so angry, all the time. What if after everything that I've been through, something's gone wrong inside me? What if I'm becoming bad?
Sirius Black: I want you to listen to me very carefully, Harry. You're not a bad person. You're a very good person, who bad things have happened to. Besides, the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.

Do you see yet where I'm going with this? The poor kid lost his parents, was nearly killed and left with a freaky scar on his forehead, was subsequently mistreated by his aunt and uncle for years, and sees a lot of good (and bad) people die. His life changes radically and fills with so much darkness that the light he was born with begins to dim.

Obviously we don't have to deal with everything Harry dealt with (dementors and the like), but most of us will at some point deal with terrible things that can dim the light inside us. And we may question who we are. Sometimes bad things happen to us. And sometimes we do bad things. Either can lead us to feel somehow wrong inside. Like surely we cannot be good anymore. And this can change us. It can make us smile less. It can make us unkind...afraid...withdrawn.

But no one is all bad. You know? Well Voldemort, sure. Maybe there are other exceptions, I don't know. Could probably point fingers to some mass murderer on death row. But...here's one thing I'm pretty sure about. We're all capable of being good—no matter who we've been or what has happened to us.

The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters.

We all have the dark, yeah. But we've all got light inside us, too. Your personality and who you are and the choices you make are not cosmically determined by forces out of your control. None of us is all good or all bad always and forever because of who we've been. The good news is your past doesn't really get a say in your future, not when it comes to “goodness.” It's up to you what you are right now, in this moment. It's up to you how many good or bad moments you will allow to make up the rest of your life. No matter what you have been through, no matter what you have done, you can always choose to be better...kinder...braver—from this day forward. Or you can choose something else. But it's in the choice--the choice is who we are.