Words originally stated by beloved intellectual, professor and headmaster, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and now repeated by yours truly, are as follows: words are, in my not so humble opinion, our inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it. Certain rhetoric utilized throughout this election season and now in this post-results aftermath has most definitely proven to be quite injurious; I have witnessed the tears of the broken hearted, the exhausted, and the terrified for many months now. I have spilled my own fair share in response to these acts and ideas so many have found to be intensely profane, vulgar, and wholly inappropriate in regards to standards of human decency and respect.
As a child, I inhaled books and poems and books about poems the way one breathes in oxygen, to fill up and live, and I happily continue this practice today – unsurprisingly, my major is English with a concentration in reading literature. In times of great disparity, I often turn to reading as a gateway to reassurance – especially the Harry Potter series; solidarity, perseverance, and resistance are major themes within the story. Besides seeking refuge via the Hogwarts Express, here is a list of other sources of magic to take comfort in that I personally have found to be profoundly comforting, inspiring, and overall incredibly helpful in navigating life:
Books:
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The Great Gatsby
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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The Help
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The Complete Persepolis
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The Handmaid’s Tale
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The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012
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The Norton Anthology of Poetry (I personally own the 5th edition)
Poetry:
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“Hope” is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickenson
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Ulysses by Tennyson
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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
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A Valediction Forbidding Mourning by John Donne
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Eve to Her Daughters by Judith Wright
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I Carry Your Heart With Me (I Carry It In My Heart) by E.E. Cummings
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Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
There are many other works of literature and poetry in which are most wonderful, and that I hope we will encounter soon. Please feel free to take this list, and expand it. Read it yourself, read it to your friends, your family, and have them add on and expand. If they know another language, have them find some work they enjoy from it, and show you it, as kindness is the language the deaf can hear and the blind read. It is universal, and knows no true boundaries. Create something out of kindness yourselves, and showcase it to your world.