Choosing to observe Hari Raya

There was an extra reason to celebrate this year, and to remember a groundbreaking series which began two decades ago.

This boy will be famous, a legend. I wouldn’t be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in future. There will be books written about Harry, every child in our world will know his name.

Professor Minerva McGonagall

MUSLIM Pottergeeks like yours truly had more than one reason to celebrate recently. The second day of Hari Raya this year coincided with the milestone 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

A cultural revolution followed the publication of the very first book in the Harry Potter series.

As summarised accurately by the character Professor Minerva McGonagall on page 15 in the very first chapter of that very first book, “This boy will be famous, a legend. I wouldn’t be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in future. There will be books written about Harry, every child in our world will know his name.”

While there have been countless stories told about fictional magical worlds throughout literary, TV and movie history, the world of Harry Potter has its own charms that galvanised a global following.

Many readers were able to “return to Hogwarts” by re-reading the books for some form of escapism that would nonetheless leave us with hearts full of warm, good feelings, every single time.

Those familiar with the Harry Potter universe would know of the spirit behind the books.

First written when JK Rowling was a financially struggling single mother, and rejected by countless publishers before Bloomsbury finally saw the potential of a then-unknown writer, the Potter saga was written with hopes for a better future – where the power of acceptance, love and good overcomes the evil of divisiveness, hatred and greed.

Yet, what is most poignant is the fact that despite being able to do magic, these wizards and witches still face all-too-human problems.

Personally, I think this is the biggest lesson from the books: that no matter how advanced we are technologically, how secular our belief systems are or even if some of us believe that we have magical abilities, there is still that need to acknowledge the humanity within us.

This reconnection with humanity played on my mind during the recent kerfuffle involving AirAsia X Flight D7237 that was bound for Kuala Lumpur but had to turn back to Perth due to a technical issue.

The social media commotion that followed the safe landing of the flight, with no casualties and no injuries, focused on the announcement made by the pilot of the aircraft, calling for passengers to pray.

I could not fathom why this was a big issue in the first place.

Surely we can all breathe a sigh of relief that no one was hurt, instead of it being another national tragedy akin to what we faced with MH370 and MH17?

I take comfort in knowing that there currently are highly skilled pilots, and applaud the fast response and thorough ongoing investigations as to why there was a technical issue.

I personally think that the lesson we as airline passengers should take from this inci- dent is to be more patient if our flights are delayed, as this could mean that the ground crew are conducting more checks to ensure our safety.

Further, despite our insistence on commenting on the issue, at the end of the day, everyone is entitled to their own choices.

In this incident, the passengers could choose to heed the pilot’s suggestion, or not; but all had to collectively put their trust and their lives in the pilot’s hands.

If one were an aeronautical engineer with the skills to fix the broken engine and were coincidentally on board Flight D7237, there was still the need to put some trust in the skills of the pilot to safely land the plane before said engineer could fix any issues.

The fact remains that the pilot was empowered with the skills to get everyone to safety.

His suggestion for passengers to say a prayer was a “human moment” – that despite his skills, training, and professionalism, there is still that tiny margin where we all just have to leave things to fate.

After all, as evident in the Harry Potter series, not everything can be simply solved by having magical abilities.

The character Professor Albus Dumbledore further emphasised the power of choices, stating in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

I do, however, note the very Malaysian syndrome of wanting to be the one who is inherently “right”.

In such situations, perhaps it is best for us to reflect on whether our arguments have value and are meaningful to solve the issue at hand, or will merely add to the noise.

Practise the clichéd advice, “If you have nothing good to say, best to not say anything at all.”

Can we all agree to allow everyone their own choice and move on with our lives, and let the rest of us celebrate our Hari Raya?