Saturday, June 11, 2005

What Would Dumbledore Do?

I have this odd fantasy of being a guest on some stupid talkshow like the defunct "Politically Incorrect" where I'm "the designated nut." The funny thing is that, in my fantasy, I come across as "the reasonable one," even though much of what I'd be saying would be considered "out-there" by contemporary standards. (Given what is "mainstream" these days, I'd say that "out-there" would most likely be sane and reasoned.)

I imagine that while I'm sitting on whatever panel I've been thrown together with, that I'm aspecting Dumbledore, and not taking the bait of the punch/counterpunch rigmarole. I imagine that I do actually find some little thing that I can appreciate about one of the necro-con neanderthugs of the right or one of those annoyingly reflexive lefties who kneejerk offspouts some insincere blather. I fantasize that I keep only to discussing what it is that I'm doing, and not taking other people's inventory. I also recognize that I don't have to tip my hand about all that I do. (Of course this is at some future time when I've actually made a few accomplishments, and before peak oil pulls the plug on all that we have right now and renders television quaint.)

It is a helpful question to ask oneself, however--What Would Dumbledore Do? I have the greatest admiration for that character of the Harry Potter series. I would like to think I might grow into being someone as sagacious as he, someone as filled with life, vitality and child-like wonder, but who has quite a lot of patience and compassion for others as well. I remember being struck by how he was able to dance at the Yule Ball with Madame Maxime, approaching it with the greatest of ease and grace. Totally unflappable, Dumbledore. I also loved how he just showed up at the Ministry of Magic to assist with Harry's defense in Book 5, pushing back against the bureaucratic push to deny the reality of Voldemort's return by officially discrediting Harry through the case against him. And yet, Dumbledore isn't perfect. He won't look at Harry throughout the proceedings, no doubt out of a primal fear that he has come to understand about the boy and his odd connection to the V.

I wonder what Dumbledore would do if he were to appear on a talkshow with Ann Coulter and Ralph Nader. (That would be rather odd, don't you think? Throw in someone like, I don't know, Florence Henderson, and we'd have a real odd combination of energies.) Makes one wonder, if a bit bemusedly, how D. would handle the others. I do think he'd manage to rise above it all like Pegasus, looking totally regal and golden in the process.

But then again, I am a Pisces.