I didn’t like
the Harry Potter books.
Yes, I heard
that collective gasp.
(I rarely talk about this
because doing so
would dampen
the joy
of others
surrounding these books
and that serves
no purpose.)
To be a reader,
a writer,
and not like Harry Potter
is to be the exception.
But not liking
the Harry Potter books
doesn’t mean
I don’t know about them.
It doesn’t mean
I don’t appreciate
WHY they were so popular
and
the impacts these books
had on the entire
publishing industry
and
on reader expectations.
“…you don’t have to
like something
to understand why
someone else thought
it was important.
To move the culture forward,
we need to have
the empathy
to imagine
what others are seeing,
liking and talking about.”
You don’t have
to like something
to learn from it,
to appreciate it.
And if you’re around
others
who love that
not harmful something
you don’t like,
do the world a favor
and stay quiet.
Listen.
Learn.
Apply those lessons,
if you can,
to your own creations.