The Wizard Of Oz

    It's been an interesting day. I had an outside water hydrant that I worked on. It had split back during the winter during a really cold spell. It only leaked if you opened the valve and then it leaked back under the floor. I could hear the water and not see it so I crawled under the house to get at it. Sure enough there was a split about an inch long. It was unpleasant under there but I persevered.
     Speaking of things that have persevered, I watched The Wizard Of Oz last night. I believe I enjoyed it more than I ever have. This film has been around since 1942. I can remember when I was a kid, they'd show it on regular TV once a year, in January. The whole family would watch it and we all loved it. When I was really small the flying monkeys really scared me and I had a few nightmares about them. Truth be told, the monkeys still scare me a little. As for the wicked witch of the west, she scared the tar out of me. In retrospect, I think she reminds me of my fourth-grade teacher.
   If I designed a video game I'd put those darn monkeys in it instead of zombies or mutants. Then I'd blow all of them to Kingdom Come and save Dorothy.
    I  was watching this on a video tape and it had a nice bonus feature that talked about the actors, writers, directors. One thing I learned was that Buddy Ebsen, from The Beverly Hillbillies, was supposed to play the tin man. They put aluminum dust on the poor guy and he almost died. He couldn't get his breath, among other things. I also learned that more people have seen this movie than any other movie in history. Over a billion people. I sat there and watched it, just enthralled at the colors, the costumes and the terrific acting. They say that as you get older you enter a second childhood. I am beginning to wonder about this. At any rate, I loved the show. For maybe the first time ever I really loved the humor in it. It is really funny. Also, I got a huge kick out of the songs. Like when the Lion sings about Courage. When he said, "What makes the muskrat guard his musk?" I nearly lost it.
     They were talking on the postscript of the video about the mindset for the film. They wanted to create something of beauty and purity to awaken a magical event with the children. What a great job they did of that. It endures today and has gladdened the hearts of many. Except for the monkey thing.
    The movie had terrific life lessons as well. There's no place like home. I wish that I had owned a pair of ruby slippers when I was half way home from Wyoming last summer!
    My friend, a one-time minister, says he sees this movie as a parable of the human journey. The yellow brick road represents your stroll through life. The Emerald City represents your goals, ambitions or perhaps whatever your perception is of the afterlife. It's a long journey and fraught with many dangers. Some of the dangers are things you didn't know existed when you were young.
     If you're very fortunate, you make a few friends along the way. It's helpful if you are wise enough to know they are not perfect. They have some shortcomings. One may not have a heart. Then one day you find that he loves you enough to risk his life for you and perhaps that gruff exterior was misleading. Another friend may not be real smart, but one day, many days, he'll know enough to save your bacon. One of your friends may even be a coward. Yet he has many good points as well. Should you drop a friend like a hot potato for their faults? Wouldn't have many any friends. Hey, maybe they could have dumped you when you ran away from home.
     In a way we are like all these characters. We have all been hardhearted and mean as though we had no heart. We have all turned away from a test or a fight or a danger and showed a lack of courage. I would think that every human has done something that showed a distinct lack of brains. Most of us have probably went through some degree of leaving home and family. Yet we persevere. You think that The Beatles wrote that song Get By With A Little Help From My Friends with a Scarecrow, Tin Man and a Lion in mind? Nah, I guess not.
    As you get older the Emerald City doesn't seem so far away. There have been a lot of darn monkeys along the yellow brick road. Some of them are a lot tougher than zombies in a video game. Sometimes the monkeys pull your straw out and you say, "They threw some over here and they threw some over there!" When I was a kid they used to say someone beat the stuffing out of so and so. The scarecrow really had this happen.
     When you get toward the end of your journey it's kind of like the Oz deal. Some of the stuff you wanted, you realize wasn't important. Maybe you didn't need a piece of paper to show your brains or perhaps there's more to love than writing love songs. I think our culture instills high expectations in us. For life, for our family and our friends. I used to dream about going here and there. These days, that has paled somewhat. Home is where the heart is. If you can't see the people you love occasionally all the gold on earth is not a great substitute.
    Well, just in case you or I leave for the Emerald City before next time, thanks for reading this post.
     I just looked outside and there are no flying monkeys.
    CE Wills.
P.S. If you go to Project Gutenberg you can download a bunch of the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, for free. He's the guy who wrote the book and he wrote about 50 or 60 other stories about that fabled land. Goodnight.