THE WIZARD OF OZ: GETTING HOME
I remember watching the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy is trying to find her way home, and along the way she runs into a scarecrow with no brain, a tin man with no heart, and a lion with no courage. But they learn that there is a wizard in the land of Oz who can help them all. They begin their journey together so that the lion can find courage, the tin man can get a heart, the scarecrow can be given a brain and Dorothy can find her way home. But when they arrive in Oz they discover that the wizard is a fraud. He is only a little man hiding behind a curtain, pulling levers, blowing smoke and yelling into a microphone. But he convinces them he can still help them. He tells the lion that there is only one thing that people with courage have that he doesn’t have — a medal. He pins a medal on the lion and he roars, believing that he now has courage. He tells the tin man that he can give him a heart and he hands him a large chain with a big red heart on it. The tin man is full of emotion, believing he now has a heart. The wizard tells the scarecrow that there is only one thing that people with brains have that he doesn’t have — a diploma. As he hands him the diploma, the scarecrow begins to spout the Pythagorean theorem — and gets it wrong by the way. And all that Dorothy has to do is click her heels three times to get home.
How I wish it was that easy to get home when we are lost. How I wish that I could have just gotten a diploma without all the hours of study and work. How I wish I could get a heart full of compassion just by wearing some heart shaped jewelry around my neck. How I wish that I become courageous just by getting a medal. But that is the thing of dreams. It doesn’t happen that way in the real world. In the real world I have to face fear and work past it. I have to read books and have my thoughts challenged in order to learn. I have to work at loving others more than myself in order to get a heart of compassion. I have to do more than click my heels in order to get home to God. I have to face a challenging life-long journey that is often uphill and sometimes dangerous. The path has obstacles and some of the people along the way are hindrances. Many of them may be well-intentioned, but they are pointing me in the wrong direction.