The 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, and L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, present five themes over and over again: hope, mind, heart, courage, and imagination. These five themes successfully address most of the issues and struggles we face day to day.
I was watching the fantastic film, The Shawshank Redemption, last evening and there was one scene where Tim Robbins said to Morgan Freeman, “Hope is a good thing; maybe the best of things.”
Many of the students I have had the pleasure to work with in my seminars are dealing with this exact issue, hope. Hope is an amazing quality to possess. When we don’t have it and don’t feel it, life seems to be out of reach and we struggle to gain our footing. Hope keeps the inner fires burning. I remember years ago reading Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning. He recalled when he was in a concentration camp and knew when others had lost hope. He could see it in their faces, hear it in their voices, and feel it lacking in their movements. He said, “Those who had lost hope died within a short time.”
I remember when my mom had a heart attack in 2005 and the attending Cardiologist told her that she might not pull through because her heart had so much damage. When I entered her room in the ER, she was crying and told me what he had said. I reassured her that she would pull through. I went to the nurse’s station and called him on the phone and asked him why he told her such a negative thing when she was so vulnerable and struggling for her life. He told me that he told her the truth. I told him that he told her HIS version of the truth, not necessarily the truth. I told him that as a doctor you always give the patient hope because you never know what they are capable of. He disagreed. I fired him, hired another Cardiologist, and told him how I wanted him to communicate to my mom. He agreed. That was 6 years ago. My mom pulled through, lives independently, cooks, cleans, bakes, watches movies, watches the LA Dodgers, and is enjoying life again in her 90’s.
In the Wizard of Oz, the first person Dorothy meets when she arrives in the Land of Oz is the Good Witch Glinda. Glinda gives Dorothy hope. She gives her a pair of magical Ruby Red Shoes, tells her that the Wizard of Oz may be able to help her get back home, and then kisses her on the forehead and proclaims, “No one can harm a person who has been kissed by the Good Witch of the North.” Dorothy is sent on her way with both a feeling of hope and a feeling of safety and protectiveness. Isn’t it a great feeling to know that we are protected and are safe?
Once on the Yellow Brick Road, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow who is stuck on a pole. Through their interactions, she helps free him from his confinement on the pole and he joins her to see if the Wizard of Oz will give him a brain. He doesn’t think he has one but challenge after challenge proves that he has a great and creative mind. Belief systems are so important in life. What we believe is true is true for us BUT not necessarily the truth. Like the first Cardiologist that saw my mom, what we think is true and what really IS true might be poles apart. Scarecrow had a great mind and an amazing brain. He just didn’t know it. He just needed the opportunities to allow his creative mind to work.
Dorothy and the Scarecrow met Tin Woodman rusted and immobile standing in the woods. He persuaded them to find an oil can and oil his joints. Once mobile again, he told them his story of how he lost his heart. He was deeply in love years ago, the relationship ended, and he lost his heart in the process. Tin Woodman told Dorothy and Scarecrow that a person without a heart cannot love and love is the greatest experience in life. He asked them if The Wizard could give him a heart again. They asked him to join them, giving him hope and inspiration.
Love is an amazing force. Some say that it is the greatest power, the most precious gift, the most fulfilling experience in life. In the film, Don Juan de Marco, Johnny Depp said,” There are 4 questions to ask ourselves. What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for? What is worth dying for?” He then tells Marlon Brando that the answer to all 4 questions is love.
Years ago I had the good fortune of spending time with Elizabeth Kubler Ross, MD author of, On Death and Dying. Elizabeth told me a story about one of her psychiatric residences. She worked at a facility where there were 4 children’s wards. The children in one of the wards were experiencing great physical and emotional improvement, so much so that it called for a meeting of the entire medical staff. The question posed was, “what are we doing differently on that unit that is resulting in this amazing improvement?” Meeting after meeting did not result in any clarity so Elizabeth took it upon herself to visit that ward to see if she could find any clues. The first 8 hour shift provided nothing out of the norm. The second shift provided no clues either. But, on the late night shift, Elizabeth observed something utterly amazing. The housekeeper picked up each child one by one, held them lovingly, rocked them in her arms, and played with them. The vast improvement was the result of loving touch and loving communication. What is equally amazing is that the medical staff with all their degrees and expertise didn’t think of doing what the housekeeper did.
Further down the Yellow Brick Road Dorothy, Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman come upon a very loud and angry Lion who attempts to scare and attack them. Dorothy walks up to him and slaps him across the snout! The Lion immediately stops his rants and begins to cry. He reveals that he has always been afraid and lives within a very small space in the jungle. “Can the Wizard give me courage, he asks?
While the four of them are walking along the Yellow Brick Road, they come across a big divide on the path. This gulch is so wide that the four of them sit down to discuss if they will be able to continue on their journey. Scarecrow says that if they cannot come up with a solution, then their journey will have to end. The Lion rises up, assesses the situation, and then says, “I can jump over it.” To this the Scarecrow adds, “If you can do that, then take each one of us one at a time, on your back over to the other side. And so he did with each marvelous leap, one at a time.
Hope, love, courage, mind, imagination….these are the gifts of the soul, the qualities that help us get through the challenges that life presents us with. Remain hopeful; keep your heart open and your thoughts positive and uplifting; express your courage and draw upon inner and outer resources; and let your imagination be your constant companion.
John A. Tamiazzo, PhD is the author of, Returning to the Land of Oz: Finding Hope, Love, and Courage on Your Yellow Brick Road, available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Barnesandnoble.com, and as a Kindle e-book and Nook book. His dynamic workshops in the USA, Canada, and Scandinavia show participants how to creatively use the power of the mind and the wisdom of the imagination to successfully achieve goals, improve health, and make positive life changes.
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