The man with a wand and a cape

A grown man in Harry Potter pajamas, complete with an “invisibility cloak,” sauntered through the crowd. A teenager darted in ahead of him, slightly cutting him off.

The man lifted his “wand” and mumbled some words and delivered a curse before continuing on.

I was in New York City with my kids, and we were touring an outdoor market when by chance our paths crossed with this eccentric character.

I immediately noticed his pajamas and wand and found myself following him out of sheer curiosity.

This man seemed to be so invested in fantasy that he actually seemed to believe he was a wizard walking through a land of muggles.

For a few brief minutes I watched him mumble some incantations and occasionally raise his wand toward some oblivious pedestrians. And then the Wizard Man melted into the crowd and we lost him, but this chance encounter left me reflecting.

Primarily, I felt a lot of compassion for this guy. This man didn’t just read Harry Potter, he inhabited it. He lived it, which is kind of funny, until it is taken to such an extreme and then it isn’t funny; it’s sad.

One has to wonder why he is so drawn to a fictional world. Is his world so dark that he escapes to fantasy in order to cope?

What kind of pain or loneliness or longing led him to a world where a fictional Harry Potter became his reality?

I wondered if he feels he can control his world using spells and curses, and if his world feels safer when he imagines he is a Gryffindor.

That is sad, and it made me think of people closer to home that deserve our compassion and not our judgment.

People who seek to escape because it is less painful and feels safer.

We escape in different ways: some people into fantasy worlds in video games or TV dramas, some escape into work, some numb themselves through substances.

Some escape by becoming exceptionally busy, people can even escape into religiosity in an unhealthy way. Perhaps the man with the wand isn’t so different from the rest of us, he is just more visible.

Perhaps we can gain compassion, rather than judgment, when we see our own tendencies reflected in someone as extreme as the Wizard Man.

Furthermore, being a community means we look out for others, especially those who seem to be retreating from reality rather than engaging it.

Continually practicing kindness matters. We don’t know those moments when a small dose of comfort will help someone in ways we cannot even imagine.

God often works through ordinary human kindness to remind struggling people they are still seen and valued.

I didn’t get a chance to interact face to face with the man in the Harry Potter pajamas. But had I caught up to him, I think I would have simply smiled and said, “Hi!”

About the author: Rev. Sharon Smith is pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. She once attempted to cast a blessing on the malfunctioning church copier, but unlike the Wizard Man, her words were not effective.

Contact Sharon at dave@tri-citytimes.com