"Let’s pretend you were given the following challenge: construct within your own imagination a world, supposedly existing side-by-side with our real world, which will captivate people of all ages all over the world in a story of ulimate good versus ultimate evil, which is also a coming-of-age story, which is set to take place over seven key years within a thirty-six year time period, which incorporates mythical elements from cultures all over the world, which incorporates hundreds of characters, and which takes place over seven novels, some of considerable length. You also need each story to contain elements of fantasy, mystery, and adventure, and keep each book in the series logically consistent with the others, while aging the characters believably.

You should have romantic themes which launch hundreds of thousands of fan fictions. You also need to have elements of mystery or ambiguity within the series not resolved until the last few chapters of the last book. Do this in a lucid literary style which shifts easily from comedy to drama to fantasy and deals with every theme known to mankind, such as death and life, love and hatred, family and friends, race, science and magic, government and civil disobedience, the press and the abuse of the press, sports, fame and obscurity, war and peace, the mistreatment of animals, growing up and growing old, giving up and perseverance.

Oh, and while you're at it, rediscover the joys of reading for an entire generation, reinstitute the lost art of parents reading to children, doing so in a way that only the snobbiest and most misanthropic of critics can find fault with. And if you don’t mind, invent some of the most memorable characters in all of literature, and throw in making a few billion dollars for yourself, your publishers and a movie studio.

And do all of this, if you don’t mind, during a seventeen-year time period that begins while going through some of the most trying times of your life, and ends after having gone through a type of fame that few people have ever experienced. And try to stay sane and focused during the entire period. And throw in having a baby or two.

Does anyone else think that, in Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter series, we have a witnessed not only a once-in-a-lifetime feat, but a once-in-forever one?"
-Recordatio Via, An original editorial by Dementom

Happy Birthday Harry Potter and J.K Rowling. It is truly appalling how much this woman has changed, not only my own minuscule life, but a billion others. She has penned a tale of brilliance. At the crux of the emotions, the friendships, the loves, the adventure, the comedy, the romance, stands her major moral: CHOICE. Everything in her series can be cut down to the importance of choice. As a hardheaded liberal, I myself feel that everything in the world comes down to that matter. Although I haven't thought about it for a substantial amount of time, I am sure that this is because of JKR's morals that she instilled into me at a very young age. Harry and Voldemort are both brought up in a miserable and isolating manner...but Harry makes the choice to be good; to know that the Dursleys are one group of muggles. Voldemort, however, does not. Abandoned by his parents, he refers to them as weak. His mother dies and to him that is the end of it. He holds no piece of her in his heart. Harry makes the choice to be in Gryffindor.

"After all, it is our choices far more than our abilities that show who we truly are." - Albus Dumbledore

Pettigrew makes the choice to betray his friends. Lupin makes the choice to continue working in a world that hates his werewolf nature. Sirius makes the choice to be different from the rest of his family and be a Gryffindor. He also makes the choice to hunt down Pettigrew in order to avenge James and Lily's unjust murder. Snape makes the choice to protect Lily despite his hatred for James. James makes the choice to go back and save Snape from Lupin-wereworlf. Dumbledore, one of the most brilliant wizards of the time, makes the choice to be a headmaster rather than a minister. He makes the choice to not become too powerful. Malfoy doesn't kill Dumbledore right away, he was still making a choice. Neville makes the choice to stand up for himself rather than be shy and forgetful. Hermione makes the choice to take a stand for the House-elfs. Ron makes the choice to come back for Harry after he leaves him. Percy makes the choice to leave his family. Mrs. Weasley makes the choice to treat Harry like a son. Barty Crouch makes the choice to let his work get the best of him and ignore his family, to sentence his own son to Azkaban. Harry makes the choice to face the dementors, to bring Cedric's body back, to confront Voldemort himself. Harry makes the choice of getting to the horcruxes despite the allure of the deathly hallows.

Even the prophecy...is about choice. Voldemort picked Harry instead of Neville to mark. Harry decided to avenge the death of Sirius, his parents and Cedric by deciding to kill Voldemort...not because the prophecy told him to. He has a choice.

The book taught me the importance of making the choice - how it affects my friends and family, how it can change nothing or change everything and how it can define what I am. Despite my flaws, despite my abilities, my talents, my hatreds, my loves...I am defined by what I do and why I do it.

Thank you Harry Potter for teaching me more than any other book ever has :)