I find it funny; albeit, not surprising that in our world of instant access/instant gratification people are so desperate to find the next thing. It’s never enough to be satisfied and content with what you have; rather, it has become about having one’s eye half cocked, looking for the next thing. No wonder so many people have turned to Buddhism…they’re trying to find peace, find grounding, find the ability to actually live in the present. Because you can’t live in the present if you’re constantly searching for the next thing.
I think that’s why I love The Wizard of Oz so much. Dorothy had to go all the way to Oz, to discover that everything she could possibly want was back in Kansas. Sure, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion were Technicolor versions of farmhands Hunk, Hickory and Zeke and the Wicked Witch was a greenified version of Miss Gulch…but they were always there. And the convention of the ruby slippers let Dorothy, and the audience, know that she ALWAYS had the power to go home again. In 1940, one year after The Wizard of Oz opened, Shirley Temple starred in the lesser-known film The Blue Bird. In the film, siblings Mytyl and Tyltyl are led on a magical trip through the past, present, and future in order to find the Blue Bird of Happiness. And after they unsuccessfully travel through time to find the bluebird, young Mytyl discovers that it had been just outside her home the entire time.
Good life lessons to consider: We should never take for granted what’s been right in front of us the whole time.
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