![\"\"](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-ImwsWPuGlhY\/TcTfEy50RcI\/AAAAAAAABZQ\/eOab1a0wO38\/s1600\/voldemort-looking-up-9fzhu4mo.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nI ended up in a lot of conversations about forgiveness and whether hatred necessarily warps the character of the person doing the hating after I posted about my reaction to Osama bin Laden\u2019s death and the celebrations that followed<\/a>. \u00a0I\u2019d like to do a few posts trying to address why I think its necessary try to offer forgiveness and charity to the people we hate, both for their sake and ours, but, today, I just want to link back to two interesting examples of this problem in children\u2019s literature. \u00a0(If you haven\u2019t read either Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows<\/a><\/em> or A Wrinkle in Time<\/a><\/em>, read on at your peril).<\/p>\n The last book in the Harry Potter series makes it clear that Voldemort cannot commit evil without harming himself. \u00a0The fact that he is irreparably wounded by his own willful cruelty does not diminish the suffering of his other victims. \u00a0Harry comes to feel pity rather than anger for his nemesis, but he still has to destroy Voldemort, since the dark wizard refuses to accept the pain necessary to heal. \u00a0I\u2019m excerpting the scene from Harry\u2019s almost-death, when he finds Voldemort\u2019s stunted, broken soul.<\/p>\n Then a noise reached him through the unformed nothingness\u00a0that surrounded him: the small soft thumpings of something that\u00a0flapped, flailed, and struggled. It was a pitiful noise, yet also slightly\u00a0indecent. He had the uncomfortable feeling that he was eavesdropping\u00a0on something furtive, shameful\u2026.<\/p>\n He recoiled. He had spotted the thing that was making the noises.\u00a0It had the form of a small, naked child, curled on the ground, its\u00a0skin raw and rough, flayed-looking, and it lay shuddering under a seat where it had been left, unwanted, stuffed out of sight, struggling\u00a0for breath.<\/p>\n He was afraid of it. Small and fragile and wounded though it was,\u00a0he did not want to approach it. Nevertheless he drew slowly nearer,\u00a0ready to jump back at any moment. Soon he stood near enough to\u00a0touch it, yet he could not bring himself to do it. He felt like a coward.\u00a0He ought to comfort it, but it repulsed him\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is that, Professor?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomething that is beyond either of our help,\u201d said Dumbledore.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n