Wednesday ~ July 7, 1999 

"She Had To Learn It All By Herself..."
 

My two boys and I watched "The Wizard of OZ" today.  Actually,  they had been watching it over at my sister-in-law's up the street.   My wife and I walked over there to pick them up after our afternoon walk.

Of course,  the "OZ" movie is one of my all-time favorites since childhood.   And I never grow tired of this classic film.

As I sat down to watch,  I noticed it was just after Dorothy had "liquidated" the witch with a pail of water.   I was following along,  staying focused on the movie,  despite the chatter of my wife and her sister,  and the kids playing with their toys.  When it got to the part where the balloon takes off without Dorothy,  and "Glinda" the good witch arrives to Dorothy's rescue,  I noticed a sentence or two that kind of grabbed me a certain way.

When Glinda says to Dorothy that Dorothy knew how to go home all along,  it kind of struck me rather profoundly.   And the Scarecrow asks Glinda why she didn't tell Dorothy from the start,  and Glinda replies,  "she had to learn it all by herself"...   that phrase really caught my attention.

I started thinking about what she meant by that,  that "she had to learn it all by herself".  It makes one think of the many instances in our own lives that we don't recognize some fragment of wisdom when it's staring us right in the face.  All these metaphors started coming to mind regarding the fact that we just aren't aware sometimes of the things that are hidden in the framework of our lives.   Those fragments of wisdom.  For it is so true that we just don't know what the truth is.   We don't realize that "enlightenment" is just a moment away.   It's this "getting back" to the Zen of things again.

It's as if we live life with blinders on.   We don't see the depth of ourselves.   At least we might appear like we know,  but there is more to it, always.  Many times the answer is right in front of us,  but we simply don't see it,  or we're simply not ready to see it,  whatever IT is.