Disclaimer: This post was based on the movie, but read the books. Seriously. Also note that spoilers follow, so if you haven’t yet read or watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and you plan to, you might want to skip over this.

Lesson #5: Beware of taking things at face value.

If it looks like a chair, and sits like a chair, it must be a chair.

No, actually, it’s just Horace Slughorn avoiding Dumbledore again.

There are so many examples in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that point to why we shouldn’t be so quick to take things at face value – throughout the entire series, actually.

I suppose magic has a way of making us believe a thing is one way, when really, it’s another.

However, my favorite example of why we should be careful not to take things at face value in Half-Blood Prince is Dumbledore’s death scene.

Anyone who hadn’t been privy to Draco Malfoy’s internal struggles with the task Lord Voldemort laid before him might’ve seen that scene simply as Draco trying to kill Dumbledore.

And, anyone who hadn’t been privy to the private agreement between Snape and Dumbledore might’ve seen that scene simply as Snape actually killing Dumbledore.

Yet, everyone who’s read all seven of the books knows, now, that both characters were seriously conflicted and neither chose to do what he did (or tried to do) based on a desire to kill.

It was easy for, say, Harry Potter to assume both Draco and Snape were murderous monsters. After all, one tried to murder a man and the other actually did murder a man.

At face value.

You might think being careful not to take things at face value is similar to being careful not to judge a book by its cover, and, you’d be right. To a point.

Taking things at face value goes a bit deeper, though.

Think back to when you were in school. There were probably peers of yours that you never really got to know because they were “snobs” or “bullies” or because they skipped class all the time or, when they were there, slept through the period.

You might’ve taken these people’s behaviors at face value. The girl was a snob because she thought she was better than everyone else. The guy was a bully because he enjoyed making other people suffer. The skipper and sleeper avoided class because they didn’t care about anything or they were ignorant.

Yet, if you’d gotten to know these people, you might’ve found the girl seemed like a snob because she had problems in social settings or the guy acted like a bully because he figured it was safer to attack others before they had a chance to attack him. You might’ve discovered the one who skipped class did so to keep others from seeing his bruises and the sleeper couldn’t stay awake because he worked a late job to help his family pay bills.

These kinds of face value judgments carry on into our adult lives. We take things at face value at work, on vacation, at the grocery store. We find out some girl has become a stripper and we decide she must be a slut. We find out some guy has a criminal record and we decide he must be evil.

Yesterday, I wrote that judging a book by its cover often robs us of the value other people can bring to our lives. This is true with taking things at face value, as well, but I also think that when we take things at face value, we’re robbing others of the value we could bring to their lives.

Think of the difference you could’ve made in some of your classmates’ lives if you’d just reached out. Imagine how appreciative one, or more, of them would’ve been for the friendship.

Sure, it’s not always the case, but it’s sometimes the case, which is, in my opinion, enough reason to stop taking things at face value.

Tomorrow? Friends! Until then, be sure to catch up on what Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has taught us about laughter, relationships, pursuing our dreams, and judging books by their covers.

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