In the past, fads and commercial hype have turned me off. But I’m changing my mind about that. The picture on the left, courtesy of Wikipedia, was taken outside a Borders store in Delaware for the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There is every reason to believe the crowds will be just as long for the July 21 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Yes, there is a lot of commercialism involved. And I don’t plan to be waiting in line at midnight for our copy of the book. But J. K. Rowling is bringing joy to millions of people. The other day I read a quote from a woman in a nursing home: “We all need something to look forward to.” Rowling is certainly giving that to people all over the world.
What do you look forward to? How does that anticipation enhance your life? Increasing the joy in our lives is an important part of optimizing our stress.
I understand what you mean about the commercialism. For me, I thought it would be like so many over-hyped movies I’ve seen which are big disappointments. But luckily Harry Potter delivers, and it was a wonderful sight to see lines and lines of children waiting in line for a new book and not a video game! Long live JK Rowling!