Take a look at this article (attached below) about a letter JK Rowling sent to Cassidy Stay, a young girl who's family was recently violently murdered. Stay, in her final moments of courage, quoted Albus Dumbledore to show the world that though something terrible happened to her she was indeed going to survive.
"Happiness can be found even in the darkest times if one only remembers to turn on the light.” Stay tells fellow mourners.
In response Rowling sends Stay a handwritten (in purple ink) letter from Dumbledore, a letter of Acceptance to Hogwarts, school supply list, and signed copy of a Harry Potter book. The contents of the letter remain a mystery. Stay's actions go to show once and for all that these books, all books, have the power to effect people in untold ways. They teach you to find strength when you think it least possible and provide you with an example, fictional or not, of a person overcoming insurmountable odds and still coming out okay.
Take a look at the article and see for yourself how truly powerful words can be.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/07/happiness-in-the-darkest-times-jk-rowling-contacts-shooting-survivor
Below is a portion of the article from The Guardian posted on August 7th.
"Happiness can be found even in the darkest times if one only remembers to turn on the light.” Stay tells fellow mourners.
In response Rowling sends Stay a handwritten (in purple ink) letter from Dumbledore, a letter of Acceptance to Hogwarts, school supply list, and signed copy of a Harry Potter book. The contents of the letter remain a mystery. Stay's actions go to show once and for all that these books, all books, have the power to effect people in untold ways. They teach you to find strength when you think it least possible and provide you with an example, fictional or not, of a person overcoming insurmountable odds and still coming out okay.
Take a look at the article and see for yourself how truly powerful words can be.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/07/happiness-in-the-darkest-times-jk-rowling-contacts-shooting-survivor
Below is a portion of the article from The Guardian posted on August 7th.
Happiness in the darkest times: JK Rowling contacts shooting survivorCassidy Stay, 15, from Texas lost her entire family in gun attack and quoted Harry Potter character Dumbledore at memorialJK Rowling wrote to Cassidy Stay, 15, from Texas, who found strength in the words of a Harry Potter film after the rest of her entire family were shot dead. Photograph: Ian West/PA
- Press Association
- theguardian.com, Thursday 7 August 2014 01.38 EDT
JK Rowling has written to a teenager who found strength in the words of a Harry Potter film after her entire family were shot dead.
Cassidy Stay, 15, from Texas, survived the attack by playing dead but her mother, father, two younger sisters and two younger brothers were all murdered by the gunman in the 9 July attack.
In a moving speech she made at a memorial just days after the murders she quoted the fictional headmaster Albus Dumbledore, telling mourners: “Happiness can be found even in the darkest times if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
An online campaign to get JK Rowling to contact the teenager led to the world-famous author writing to Cassidy in the voice of Dumbledore, the Telegraph reported.
The handwritten note of comfort, written in purple ink, was accompanied by a wand, an acceptance letter to Harry Potter’s school Hogwarts, a list of school supplies and a signed book.
Albus Dumbledore played by Michael Gambon in The Prisoner of Azkaban. Photograph: Warner Bros PicturesA spokesman for Rowling told the newspaper: “We can confirm that JK Rowling was in touch with Cassidy Stay, however, the contents of the letter remain private.”
Asked whether a meeting between the two may happen, she added: “We wouldn’t comment on that but [Cassidy’s] is a remarkable story.”
At the memorial Cassidy said: “In The Prisoner Of Azkaban, Dumbledore says, ‘Happiness can be found even in the darkest times if one only remembers to turn on the light’.
“I know that my mom, dad, Bryan, Emily, Becca and Zach are in a much better place and that I’ll be able to see them again one day. Stay strong.”
The line quoted by Cassidy is spoken by Harry Potter’...."