5 Points for Gryffindor!

This past weekend as I was working on the laundry, my seven-year old burst in with what to her was very exciting news. "Mom! Mom! I just got 5 points for Gryffindor!" She had been playing the Harry Potter game on the computer and apparently got the points for learning some sort of spell. My reaction was quite a bit less than hers in the excitement department, but it made me wonder what happens to us as we get older. My daughters would never consider any other house than Gryffindor. It is, afterall, where the bravest, most righteous people get to go. But ask a bunch of teenagers about this, and you'll most likely hear Slytherin (or at least that's what I believe based on my informal survey). Why the change? What happens between seven and thirteen that makes being evil and viscious to other people the cool thing? And what happens after that? Do we continually lose our innocence, our essential goodness until we are left as bitter old hags?

I even compare my younger girl to the older girl. She's four, and you have never seen a child more able to enjoy life. Sure, when she's upset, you know it, but her joy is equally pure. My seven year old is already learning to cover up that joy. Why do we do this? I believe Winston Churchill once said something about if you aren't a liberal by the time you're 30, you have no heart, and if you aren't a conservative by the time you're 40, you have no brain. Why are the two mutually exclusive? Do they have to be, or do we do that to protect ourselves? I want to want to be in Gryffindor till the day I die.