Potter and Permission

Move forward to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Harry’s name was spat out of the Goblet of Fire. Harry then goes on to compete in the Tri-Wizard tournament. 

Here is a problem that I have with the scenarios, Harry needs a permission slip to travel to a village but doesn’t need a permission slip to compete in a tournament where the chance of his death is high? As a parent, wouldn’t you want a say in your child’s education? Especially if the activity could potentially result in death? In the book and movie, the tournament includes battling a dragon and going underwater for an hour to save your friends from killer mermaids. Here is another problem, Hermione, Ron, Cho, and another girl are taken from their dorms and placed in water in an animated state while waiting for a rescue. What kind of school are Hogwarts that routinely places its students in such danger? Watching the Harry Potter movies made me consider permission. I asked myself these questions- Why do we need permission? 

Permission doesn’t guarantee safety.

Permission lets people know where you should be.

Permission gives you access to places only some have access to.

For example, going backstage at a sporting event or a concert. The permission slip can take the image of a badge.

A ticket allows you to be at an event, for example, a movie, concert, or sporting event.

 The list could go on and on. What have you participated in where permission was needed?

Do you believe that you need permission to have your work go out into the world? Permission from an editor? A producer? A gatekeeper? You could pursue that, but what about giving yourself permission? I give myself permission to engage in the creative process.

The writing process for me goes like this. Input the password on my computer. Open up the Chrome browser. Click Google on my bookmarks. Sign onto my drive. Find the document entitled Blog Posts for the current month. Open the document. Scroll down past the last entry. Add the date of the day. Then start writing. Finish writing. Highlight the current entry. Select Cut. Open Grammerly. Paste in the document. Edit the document. Highlight the document. Paste it back into google docs. Close the web browser. Pick up my phone, and open the docs application on my phone. Highlight the document, then press copy. Close docs and open Squarespace. Click blog. Click the plus sign to add a new post. Create a title. Paste it into the doc. Hit a button, then select save and publish, and just like that, my writing is out in the world for anyone with a link to see.

Even though I do this, there still is a small voice inside my head telling me that I am doing it the wrong way, that I need permission to put my work in the world, and that if I don’t have permission, then it doesn’t count. All of this isn’t true. I don’t need permission to be creative, and neither do you. If you believe you need permission, then give it to yourself. What do you need to give yourself permission to do?