We are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are such breakable...
Girls and Boys.
It is difficult to stand strong in the midst of battle, to watch friends and classmates being killed in front of you, and not being able to do anything about it. It is not easy to put barriers around your heart so that the flood of emotions doesn't burst through to the world. One can't forget the shrieks and anguished cries piercing through the night as children begin to discover the casualties of war, finding loved ones sprawled across floors, arms twisted behind them, blood smeared over their faces and hands, where their wands were still desperately clutched, sometimes broken. One can't erase the images of crazed eyes following you in your dreams, flashes of light and death appearing in your nightmares. One cannot cover up the scars and bruises from battles past, or the hollow cheeks, or the seemingly dead, un-seeing eyes. War is a terrible thing which could not be prevented and cannot be forgotten.
Yet, somehow, strength can be found in friends. And friends can be found everywhere, in the most unlikely of places. Friendships are powerful, and love can withstand anything thrown at it. Friendships will last forever, as long as one will let them. Friends will stand together, through wars, through death, and through sorrows, erasing all trace of sadness and despair. A certain class within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry displayed this most beautifully, never backing down, standing and fighting till the very end. Friendship and love is what killed the Dark Lord. It is what ended his evil reign, bringing light into a very dark world. Love has the power to pierce through the darkest night, illuminating the world in a happy glow.
One can be broken. People are broken all the time, because we are breakable things. People lie and cheat and kill and steal, and these are the things which break others. We tend to hurt one another, not caring or noticing how their lives crash down when we harm them. The human race is very vicious, ripping people down whenever we feel threatened. We often find ourselves superior to other people, placing ourselves on a figurative pedestal. But what no one can understand is that we are all the same. No matter what color our skin is or what blood status we have or what we believe, no one is different, everyone is equal. We shouldn't fight or murder or harm. We shouldn't, but we do. Everyone needs a chance to voice their opinions, and the strongest people use war to speak their minds. Fighting is horrific, yet sometimes the only answer. We shouldn't fight to get revenge, for that is wrong. But, we should fight for the things we believe, for that can save the world from utter demise.
Sadly, people don't always think about the aftermath of fighting. They simply fight and fight, and then seem surprised when the entire world hurts because of it. But even though war is a deadly fire, it cannot always be avoided, and fire, though harmful, is also a terrible way of starting over, mending problems and cleaning our slates. Even though wars are not the most practical way of looking at things, we always tend to be headstrong and willing to stand firm for what we believe in.
We are meant to get along together, but we seem to disagree. We are all placed in this world with means to be happy, yet we always seem to only find sadness. We are supposed to help each other, yet we bring each other down. We are meant to fix each other, yet we break one another even more. Our class has stuck together through the fight, rising up against the enemy. We have seen death, we have seen destruction, but these things have brought us closer and made us stronger.
This war has ruined life as we once knew it. This fight, while necessary, has destroyed our trust in one another. We have lost many, many friends, many relatives. Through this war we have lost our innocence. But, the end of this war means the end of all evil, the end of the darkness. The light has won, defeating the enemy, stomping out the bad and the hurt.
Yes, we are still mourning. Yes, we are still rebuilding our society. But once we finish reconstructing, the world will be even better than it was before. Love has conquered hate, and justice has conquered the unfair. We no longer have to live in fear. Unfortunately, it took a long and terrible battle to get rid of the fear. And we all know that it will take time to heal the wounds of war.
We still have hope. Hope is what gets everyone through bad times. Hope is what lifts people up. Our hope lies in each other. If we can help one another, we may just get back up on our feet. We can make a better future, a better future for our children and for their children after that. Yet we must stand strong together, we must lean on our friends.
Love, hope, and belief. Those are the things in which I have placed all trust. This is how we came to defeat the Darkness. I have lost things too, and I am hurting as much as anyone, maybe more. Only, to get through this time, we need to be rejoice in our victory, we need to love the friends which remain, we must hope for a new tomorrow, and we must be firm with our beliefs, for our beliefs are all we really own. Hope is joy. Belief is comfort. Love is light.
-From the Acceptance Speech of Harry James Potter-
