Thursday, July 17, 2008
No place like home
When I was really young, like say six or seven, I remember watching The Wizard Of Oz at my grandma's. They say that things stick to your memory better in your early years. I guess it's true, becos I can still remember specific scenes from the movie. Like the wicked witch who was crushed under a house and when her red ruby slippers were removed, her legs would shrivel and disappear. I remember how Dorothy threw a bucket of water at the wicked witch of the West and she's say "No...no...noooo..." until she melted like hot wax into the ground.
If you've never watched the show before (where have you been!), the story is about a girl called Dorothy who was finding her way home after a big tornado left her displaced in an unknown land. So she went in search of the Wizard of Oz who could help get her home. Along the way, she met some friends, namely a scarecrow who wanted a brain, a lion who wanted bravery, and a tin-man who wanted a heart. And the foursome followed the yellow brick road, looking for the great wizard.
After all that jazz, the 'Wizard of Oz' turned out to be a little man controlling lots of fancy equipment from a hidden room. And, he told Dorothy's three friends that whatever they wished for, they had it in them all along, ie, intellect, love and courage. As for Dorothy, the entire movie was basically a lesson for her to realise that there's no place like home, and her desires of a better future somewhere over the rainbow is needless.
Why am I re-telling this classic story, you may wonder. Because it just occurred to me that sometimes, we have our big grand plan of what our future should be like and we go out of our way in pursuit of the things that we think would fulfill our lives, when in actual fact, the very things that we need and want, is something we already have.
It's like how you'd rummage through your messy desk in search of something you've misplaced, but you can't seem to find it. Then moments later, you look again, and this time, you see it lying right there and realised that it has been there all along but somehow, you just didn't quite manage to spot it among the rest of the mess.
Maybe, just maybe, what we want is not found somewhere over the rainbow, but right in front of us after all.
Posted by Jo at 11:40 PM
