We have grown up in the era of Harry Potter. In my fourth-grade class, my teacher read the first Harry Potter book out loud to us. I have always been amazed by the books-so detailed and intriguing. I can sit and think about what it would be like to be a wizard or how amazing it would be to fly on a broomstick or to play Quidditch or to ride in a car that can fly . the list is endless.

What I really loved about the book was that it was so complex, yet so simple. There was a complexity of characters, plots and ideas, but the outcome was always simple: Good would always win against evil.

There is also a raw simplicity to the protagonists in the novel. Harry, Ron, Hermoine and others are simple characters who usually know how to judge what is correct. The evil characters are also simple in the sense that their actions and motives are usually evil. Well, the perception of the simplicity was tarnished recently with Rowling’s comments.

Recently, Rowling told her fans and the entire world that Albus Dumbledore, an older, admired character in her books, is gay.

That little detail complicates things a little bit. According to Rowling, Dumbledore was in love with another man, which led him to some of his actions. She did not reveal the idea that Dumbledore was gay in the book; instead, she revealed the idea in dialogue.

If it is not in the book, then why does it matter? Why did Rowling decide to disclose this detail?

The main audience for the Potter books is not college students who are mature; it is mostly junior high school students: kids around the age of 13 years old. These kids probably don’t know what it means to be gay or how the legitimacy of marriage is debated throughout society. So why is Rowling bringing this idea to kids; why is she taking the innocence of her audience?

Kids are losing their innocence earlier and earlier, and the media plays an important role in this occurrence. Some television shows for kids are much more adult-like.

There is violence on commercials, and the language is sometimes inappropriate. Besides the television, the Internet allows a child to lose innocence very quickly-one inappropriate Internet pop-up could scar a child forever.

Then, there are always the video games. Video games not only make children forget about the outdoors and sit like couch potatoes, but they also make children less innocent because of the violence and inappropriate language.

Outside of the media, it could be our fault, as well, for the lack of innocence in younger children.

Children admire older siblings and adults and want to be like them. But problems arise when the older siblings talk to the kids the same way that they talk to their peers. When an older sibling curses when they talk to kids, the kids learn from and emulate them. Soon, they begin to use the words in their daily language. The same is true for drinking and smoking.

So as Thanksgiving and winter break are coming up, and we will be with family and siblings, we need to bear in mind that we are students who are allowed to have fun, but we are also role models-so we need to make sure that we are “setting a good example” for the younger generation.

Clearly, Rowling had trouble leaving out a useless point. She didn’t ever really need to mention the idea about Dumbledore since it is a useless point that will lead her audience to many questions. Hopefully, we can do better!

Samiksha Tarun is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.