The Wizard of Oz
has lessons that can profoundly affect the way we see life, the world around us,
and the human condition. It
is more than mere entertainment, though The Wizard of Oz is that as well.
The Wizard of Oz represents a reflection of the human soul, its
aspirations, the pitfalls & possibilities, Mans’ weakness and his
strength, and the eternal question of the purpose of life.
The simplest truths of life are often the most profound and most
important, and though the simplicities of The Wizard of Oz may seem
platitudinous, they are all that we need to understand ourselves and the
wonderful world around us.
“That ways a nice way.
Its pleasant down that way too. Of
course people do go both ways.”
On
the road of life there are many forks, and many choices to make. And, we all don’t make the same decisions that others make
or would chose for us. Some choose
to go one way, and some choose to go another.
We can’t judge the path another chooses to do down.
Our choices affect not only
us, but others as well, and it is important to take the advice of others when
deciding what path to choose. When Dorothy came to a fork in the road she didn’t choice a
path blindly or recklessly, she sought advice from her new friend, the
Scarecrow. Our friends are part of
our lives, and while we shouldn’t let our friends make our life choices for
us, we should seek their advice. Sometimes
friends can see things we can’t, have experiences to learn from, and give an
outside perspective. Our lives are
determined by the choices we make, and if we don’t consider others and the
affect it will have on them our paths may separate us.
If our choices are selfishly made, and if we consider only our best
interests, we will find ourselves adrift, far from the Yellow-Brick Road and the
places and person we desire to be.
Dorothy’s
choice of which path to follow didn’t just affect her, also tied to her fate
were her new friend and her dog Toto. We
are not islands existing apart from the world around us.
Interdependency is part of our lives; we rely on others as they in turn
rely on us. Awareness that what we
do affects others helps us make better choices in our lives and build better
relationships with others.
“No
heart, no brain, and no courage.”
We
are all flawed and incomplete individuals.
No one is perfect, and no one is complete.
We all lack something in our lives, whether it is something we lose like
Dorothy, or whether it is something that we’re made without, like the Tin Man
and Scarecrow. Weakness is in our
nature; it is innate to our being. These
flaws are various, the Scarecrow had a mental problem, lacking a brain, the
Cowardly Lion had a personality problem, lacking courage, the Tin Man had a
physical problem, lacking a heart, and Dorothy was lost and directionless.
Each character in The
Wizard of Oz has flaws, whether it is the Wizard with his inferiority
complex or the Wicked Witch of the West with her anger management issues.
Yet the story doesn’t end with a character’s flaws.
It is how we deal with these flaws that form our character and determine
how the story plays out. We can
become our flaws, let them dominate and define our character, as the Wicked
Witch of the West did, or we can rise above our flaws, continue in spite of
them, while trying to improve ourselves as the Scarecrow did.
Scarecrow is the perfect
example of Man’s ability to rise above weakness and use weakness as strength.
Scarecrow was faced with a decision, either to stay up on the pole in the
cornfield or to join Dorothy on her journey.
Had he chosen to stay on the pole, accept his flaws and let them define
him, he would never had discovered his other abilities or gained the strength to
grow beyond his weakness. Because
Scarecrow decided to join Dorothy, he was able to discover his leadership
abilities, and let Dorothy’s, Tin Man’s and the Cowardly Lion’s friendship
strength him. It was through his
friendships that Scarecrow was able to develop his mental abilities and find the
“brains” that he had always wanted.
Scarecrow’s flaws made him humble, and it was that humility that allowed him to overcome his flaws and grow into a better person. Because he was humble enough to follow, he was able to become a leader. Because he was able to admit that he wasn’t a good thinker, he was able to learn and become wise. By Scarecrow accepting his flaws, but not letting them define him, Scarecrow was able to inspire Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and even the Wizard to do the same.
“Ha-ha-ha.
Ho-ho-ho. And a couple of tra–la-las.”
Upon entering
the Emerald City, Dorothy and her friends are serenaded by the citizens in song.
The chorus “Ha-ha-ha, ho-ho-ho, and a couple of tra-la-las.
That’s how we laugh the day away in the merry old Land of Oz.”
Laugher is good for the soul, it’s an emotional relief.
There’s an old saying that laughter is the best medicine, and indeed it
is.
In the Emerald City they have learned how to keep spirits light and not let the troubles and hardships of life keep them down. Life can’t always be a bowl of laughs, in fact it usually isn’t. Life is cruel, harsh, and is anything but fair. And though we cannot control what happens to us in life, we can control how we react. The attitudes that we have about life are as important as the life events themselves. Its not the trials and tribulations that we face that define us, its how we react to them that determines the course our life takes. There will always be obstacles in life, tragedy, and heartbreak, even in the Land of Oz. The question is will you let life bring you down, or will you lift yourself up?
“We’re
not in Kansas”
Tragedy
strikes us all at some point in our lives.
Life is not always fair to us, and sometimes situations and circumstances
take a turn for the worse. We never
know when or where tragedy is going to strike.
It could come slowly and be foreseen, or it can come in a split second.
Fortune turns on a dime. No
one asks for these things to happen to us, they just do.
As prepared as we think we are for tragedy, it always comes as a
surprise, even when we know it’s coming.
Yet, it is through tragedy that we learn and grow, and even the darkest
tragedies can be used to help others.
In The Wizard of Oz,
Dorothy suffers a great tragedy, losing her family, her home, and all that she
knows. Yet it is Dorothy’s
tragedy that serves as a catalyst for all the good that will come about through
her journey in Oz. If it wasn’t
for Dorothy’s lose and attempt get back home, the Scarecrow would have
remained on a pole in a cornfield never to develop his abilities or the
friendships he did, the Tin Man would have rusted away in the forest and never
learned to feel and express emotion, the Cowardly Lion would have remained
scared and afraid of life, the Wicked Witch of the West would’ve continued her
reign of terror on the people of Oz, and the Wizard would have grown to be an
old, lonely, insecure old man hiding away from the world.
When Dorothy first arrived in Oz things looked bleak, she was thousands
of miles from home with no way to get back, everyone that she loved, all of her
family was taken away from her. The
temptation to give up must have been overwhelming to Dorothy, but she didn’t.
It was a tough choice to make, but Dorothy decided to move passed her
tragedy and find a way out of her dire situation.
It was this choice of Dorothy’s to take control of her circumstances
that inspired the others, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and the Wizard to
move on as well. Dorothy didn’t
know at the beginning what would come of her tragedy, yet its was her tragedy
that would revolutionize the Land of Oz and her journey that would put back
together the lives of so many people, like the Scarecrow, Tin Man and the
others.
“Great
and Powerful, & Perfect”
Things
are not always what they seem to be in the Land of Oz.
When Dorothy and the Scarecrow come upon the Tin Man they believe him to
be perfect. It isn’t until the
Tin Man relieves that he does not have a heart that they see that he is as
flawed as they are. The Wizard of
Oz is thought to be the most powerful person in all of Oz and to have the power
to solve all of peoples’ problems. Even
powerful witches such as Glinda and the Witch of the West fear and respect the
Wizard. It isn’t until Toto
pulled back the curtain to reveal a feeble old man that it is discovered that
the Wizard was just an illusion.
We often misjudge people and
situations. Sometimes we give power
over us to those do not deserve it, earn it, or have it.
Other times we fall to the deceptions of others, intentional and
unintentional. The Cowardly Lion deceived others into believing he was a
furious beast and bullied others. The
Wicked Witch of the West and the Wizard both tried to convince Dorothy that they
had power over her. Glinda was led
into believing that Dorothy was a witch. All
of these things turned out to be untrue, the Cowardly Lion lacked even an ounce
of courage and cried unceasingly at the swat of his nose, neither the Wicked
Witch nor the Wizard had the power to deliver Dorothy to Kansas, the power was
always in her ruby slippers, and the Wicked Witch tried to conceal this from
Dorothy, and Glinda’s presumption that Dorothy was a witch turned out to be
false.
There are many illusions and
deceptions along the Yellow Brick Road, and we need to be constantly aware of
them. There will be people who will
try to deceive us into thinking they are something that they are not.
We must also avoid the temptation of believing others are better then we
are, or perfect.
“Dream”
As
The Wizard of Oz concludes, Dorothy awakes from a dream; being nursed by
her loved ones in the comforts
of her home. This ending suggests
that the Land of
Oz was a dream, that all her adventures occurred in a fantasy.
Oz then is a state of mind, not a distant land or somewhere over the
rainbow. This wondrous land where
dreams do come true isn’t a place to be traveled to, but a way of thinking and
acting, a state of mind.
So many times in our live we seek the solutions to our problem externally. We think that if we can only change our job, or the place we live that our problems will go away. But as Dorothy observed, “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further then my own back yard, because if it isn’t there then I never lost it to begin with.” Changing the environment doesn’t solve a problem, we must look into ourselves. A dream is a wish your heart makes, so it is there, the heart, which we must look to bring about an Oz state of mind.
©2004, Dann Michalski, Th.D.
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