The Wizard of Oz is a story about a journey. The journey of Dorothy. It starts in the Land of Oz. The destination is to get home. If life is a journey too, can the story of the Wizard of Oz give us some fundamental lessons to lead a better life?
Let’s find out
Most people would have watched, read or heard the story of the Wizard of Oz, or one of its versions. If not, or if it has been a long time, here is a recap.
A young farm girl Dorothy and her pet dog Toto live on a prairie farm in Kansas. One day a cyclone rips up the farmhouse from the ground and deposits it into munchkin country in the Land of Oz. The farmhouse lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, who is the evil ruler of the munchkins, and kills her. The Good Witch of the North comes and thanks, Dorothy. She gives her the magical silver slippers of the Wicked Witch of the East. She also tells Dorothy that to get home she will need the help of the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. To find the Wizard of Oz she must follow the yellow brick road.
Dorothy skips along the yellow brick road and meets people to help her on her journey. She meets the Scarecrow (who seeks a brain), the Tin-man (who seeks a heart) and the Lion (who seeks courage).
When they get to the Emerald City they each, in turn, meet the great Wizard of Oz. He appears as a giant head to Dorothy. A lovely lady to the Scarecrow. A terrible beast to the Tin-man and a ball of fire to the Lion. He tells them they must kill the Wicked Witch of the West (who rules over Winkie country) to receive his help.
The Wicked Witch of the West sees them coming through her telescopic eye. She tries to stop them from reaching her. She sends a pack of wolves, the Tin-man kills with his axe. She sends wild crows, the Scarecrow kills them. She sends a swarm of black bees, who die trying to sting the Tin-man. She sends a dozen Winkie slaves, the Lion stands up and scares them off. She sends the Winged Monkeys who capture everyone and make Dorothy a slave.
The Wicked Witch of the West manages to trick Dorothy to give her one of the silver slippers. In anger, Dorothy throws a bucket of water over the Witch. The Witch melts and dies. The group free the Winkies and return to the Wizard of Oz.
When the group meet the Wizard of Oz again. Toto reveals the Wizard is actually an old man from Omaha. He came to Oz via hot air balloon a long time ago. The Wizard makes the Scarecrow brains of bran, the Tin-man a silk heart and the Lion a potion of courage. He then offers to take Dorothy and Toto home to Kansas via his hot air balloon.
The Wizard announces the Scarecrow as ruler of Oz before leaving. Before leaving Toto gets distracted and runs off. Dorothy runs after him. The rope on the balloon breaks and the Wizard floats away without them.
Dorothy asks the Winged Monkeys to carry her home but they can’t cross the desert surrounding Oz. She is then told that Glinda, the Good Witch of the South may help. So they journey to Glinda’s castle in Quadling country. On the way, the Lion kills a giant spider terrorising the forest.
Once at the castle, Glinda greets them and reveals that the silver slippers can take Dorothy home.
Dorothy’s friends became leaders of the kingdoms they helped. The Scarecrow returned to the Emerald City. The Tin-man to Winkie country. The Lion to the forest.
Dorothy picked up Toto, clicked her heels, and wished to return home.
She returns to the open arms of her Aunt Em.
To be honest, there are a few differences in the story I remember from the films to the original in the book. I remember ruby slippers, not silver slippers. The book seems a lot more brutal, I don’t remember all the killing to get to the Wicked Witch of the West. I also don’t remember a giant spider in the forest.
No matter which version you remember, the same themes occur in them all.
Journey
Life is a journey. We make plans based on where we are now, where we want to go and plan a route to get there. Along the big journey, we have mini ones. Dorothy’s journey is no different.
Dorothy’s journey starts with her farmhouse. Dorothy and Toto deposited in Winkie Country in the Land of Oz. Dorothy’s final destination is to get home. She has mini journeys and destinations along the way. The first is the Emerald City to meet the great Wizard of Oz. The route (or path) she must take is the yellow brick road.
If we compare the journey of life, to Dorothy’s journey in the Land of Oz, we can find some useful principles. We can apply these in our own lives.
Friends
Along the way, Dorothy meets new people and makes new friends. Some choose to join her on the journey, they choose to walk by her side along the same path.
Dorothy makes friends with the Good Witch of the North and the South. They are warm and kind. They provide help, advice and guidance. But they do not walk the same path with Dorothy. They provide a short but profound impact on Dorothy. They help Dorothy to define a destination and a path. Something Dorothy could not have found out for herself. Like a mentor may do. They help you see things you cannot see for yourself. They may provide knowledge and guidance you would struggle to find yourself.
Dorothy also makes friends with the Scarecrow, the Tin-man and the Lion. These friends are also warm and kind. But these friends choose to walk side by side with Dorothy. They choose to walk the same path. They provide support and guidance on a daily basis. They help Dorothy keep moving, step by step, along the yellow brick road. They provide encouragement and motivation. They help her face challenges she could not have overcome by herself. She would not have been able to overcome the wolves, the crows, the bees or the Winkie slaves on her own.
This is the same with normal everyday life. We need friends. We don’t need many, but we do need a few select individuals to help us on our journey. Some will provide important knowledge and guidance to keep us on the right path. Others will be by our side. We will meet daily, and provide encouragement and support.
Don’t forget. While they are walking by our side on our journey, you are also walking by their side on their journey. They will need your encouragement and support. There will come times when you will need to stand up for them. Help them face their challenges. It works both ways.
There will also be times now and again when you may give knowledge and advice. Be thoughtful about what you say. Take the time to make sure it is in the other person’s interest and not yours. For you may dictate the path they choose to follow.
Challenges
Along her journey, Dorothy faces many challenges. The first is to walk the yellow brick road to get to the Emerald City. From this challenge, she meets her friends.
The next is the mission to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. She faces the wolves. She faces the crows. She faces the bees. She faces the Winkie slaves. She overcomes them all (with the help of her friends). She then faces the Winged Monkeys. She loses and is enslaved. Her friends are imprisoned. She breaks free of her enslavement when she melts and kills the Wicked Witch of the West with a bucket of water.
The next challenge is for Dorothy to venture back to the Emerald City. Once there, her opportunity to get home slips through her fingers. The hot air balloon floats away without her. Another loss.
Dorothy must then go to Glinda’s (the good witch of the south) castle. On the way, she faces a giant spider in the forest. The lion helps her out here. The group then reach the castle.
Some of these challenges Dorothy wins and others she loses. But what if, the losses aren’t losses. What if, they change the course of her journey.
What if, Dorothy was meant to get captured by the Winged Monkeys and be enslaved. And by being enslaved, she could get close enough to the Wicked Witch of the West. Close enough to kill her.
What if, missing the hot air balloon ride with the Wizard of Oz changed her direction again. What if, she wasn’t supposed to leave for home then. What if, she still had some things to learn. Some things to do. She wouldn’t have met Glinda. She wouldn’t have found that the silver slippers could take her home.
Gifts
What is the main mission for Dorothy?
To get home
She has a couple of opportunities during the journey. Finally, though she uses the magical silver slippers to get home. These were given to her right at the beginning of the story. When she first arrives in Oz, a gift from the Good Witch of the North.
Ironically, she had the answer to her problem, on her feet, the whole time. She had the power to go home at any time. She just didn’t know it.
She knew they were magical and important. She was angry when the Wicked Witch of the West got hold of one of the slippers. She was protective of them. But she never thought of using them. She didn’t know she could. She didn’t know she was allowed. She didn’t know how.
It took the help of others for her to see this gift. To help empower her to use them. To tell her what she needed to do with them.
What if, we all have innate gifts. Gifts we have been given since birth. Gifts we have been carrying with us all this time.
We get glimpses of these gifts from time to time. We do something particularly well and it gets noticed. We may notice it ourselves. Be somewhat surprised on our own performance. Others may notice and comment. But we don’t know how we did it. We don’t understand our gift.
To get to where we want to go, maybe we don’t need to look outside. To search in other places. To look under rocks. To look over walls. To look behind trees. Maybe we don’t need to go in search of something, something we don’t have.
Maybe we don’t need to look outside but we do need to look inside. We need to find the gifts we already have. Realise how important they are. Give ourselves permission to use them. Go and figure out how to use them. Get in some training, some deliberate practice. Maybe find others who can help us do this.
Like Dorothy, perhaps the gifts we already have will help us get where we want to go. Maybe they have been with us the whole time. Maybe on our feet. Certainly right under our own noses.
Takeaways
Life is hard, we can’t do everything ourselves. We will meet and need friends along the way. Some will provide knowledge and guidance through coaching and mentoring. Others will provide regular caring support and motivation. They will help you keep moving forward. Don’t forget, you are also their friend. It is not always about you. Sometimes it is your turn to help others.
Life is hard, it is going to throw challenges at us. Some we will win and move on. Others we will lose. Maybe it is not a loss though. Maybe it will change our direction. The change in direction may create a better opportunity further down the line. Don’t beat yourself up for not winning the first time. Perhaps it will lead to something better around the corner.
Life is hard, we have gifts but we don’t know it. We will have a mission, something we need to do and we will look outside for the solution. We will search all over. Sometimes we already have the solution, we just don’t know it. A gift we have. A gift inside. We may need the help others to point it out. To give us permission to use it. To help us know how to use it. This gift might be right under our own nose this whole time.
Footnotes
I used Wikipedia to familiarise myself with the original story, here is the link
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