Nova Daily - 24 March 2025
Hi!
Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have.
- Hermione Granger to Ron Weasley
This funny quote came from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 21 (The Eye of the Snake). Harry enters the Gryffindor common room after having been stood up by his crush Cho Chang. He's a bit baffled by having just shared his first kiss with her, and doesn't know why she was crying. Harry's best friend Ron doesn't understand it either, so Hermione breaks down the many complex and conflicting layers of emotions that Cho must be feeling.
Cho had been dating the Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory until the day that he was murdered. Harry was present when this murder took place. During the following year, Cho went out with Harry, but neither of the two has been able to get closure for what happened. And with their needs conflicting precisely because of this, their romance was short-lived.
The character of Cho is a reminder to the reader that people are not one-dimensional. Everyone has their own emotions, desires, needs, feelings, and ambitions. Good intentions on both sides don't guarantee a happy ending, as was the case between Cho and Harry.
The human need to matter
Most human actions can be explained by a combination of two amoral facts:
- Everyone needs to feel important;
- There is an inherent selfish component in everything that someone does.
Cho wants to know whether Cedric has been talking about her in the moments before he died. This is because she has a deep desire to matter to the people around her. She needs to know if she mattered that much to him. Harry, who has his own painful experience regarding Cedric's murder, finds it hard to talk about the topic. Seeing that it's painful for both of them, he suggests to talk about something else. Struggling to understand why she wants to bring up precisely this subject, he is unable to give her the reassurance that she needs. One misunderstanding leads to another, and their romance becomes a trainwreck.
When one's need to feel important is denied, or suspended in favour of someone else, ugly situations can arise. A clear example in the world of Harry Potter is Draco Malfoy. Having been born in the luxury of the old money of his dynasty and raised by his parents as a spoilt prince, his sense of self-importance is through the roof from the moment we first meet him in Philosopher's Stone. Finding his fame and fortune eclipsed by "the boy who lived," Draco offers Harry his friendship. After Harry refuses to shake his hand, the long-lasting rivalry is born between them. Fueled by envy, Draco does everything within his power to sabotage Harry. It isn't until Harry saves Draco's life towards the end of Deathly Hallows that this rivalry persists.
Envy is the grey veil that one casts upon oneself and all those that are affected by it.
The value-squeezer
It's an ugly truth, but in dealing with other people it's important to realise that you're dealing with the ego of other people. Other people have their own wants and needs. Their lives and actions don't necessarily revolve around you. You're not the star of their show, so you can't always get what you want.
There are times when you have to take a back seat and let others enjoy their moments of glory. If someone takes first prize ahead of you, you can be happy for them. If someone has had a great experience and wants to talk about it, don't try to make it about you. And don't expect people to just give you stuff for free.
You don't have to believe in karma to understand and appreciate that egocentrism and stinginess will stir up resentment and grudges. These will come to haunt you in the end, and there will be a long line of people you thus estranged who will be glad to see you get your comeuppance.
The game
In today's game I badly mutilated a London system. I somehow survived, but I felt that I should have been losing from the opening, and I never deserved more than a draw. I did get it in the end; although I could've offered it earlier, I decided to keep the game going until move 69 for the memes.
I'll add my thoughts tomorrow. I would've done it today but I accidentally closed the tab without saving so I had to write the entire blog again.
