In the merry old land of Oz

Sept. 22, 2005

Dear nieces and nephews,

Have you seen "The Wizard of Oz"? I ask because some of you are starting to leave home, and some are reaching the age when you're starting to think about it. Becoming an adult can be frightening. I was so scared it took me about 40 years.

A famous writer and teacher named Joseph Campbell called the quest you are beginning the Hero's Journey. This is how he described it: "A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow men."

I was in my late 20s before leaving home looking for adventure. In California I encountered artists and poets and musicians, sacred stands of ancient trees that touch the heavens and a man who loved redwoods so much he gave his life to saving them, creative people who seemed to be dreaming their lives into being every day. In New Orleans people still told stories about the destruction Hurricane Betsy caused in 1965 and taught me how to laissez les bons temps rouler. When I lived in upstate New York, life seemed to be frozen in snow and ice, my feelings with it.

But in Big Sur on the Northern California coast, feelings were all anyone cared about. Tell me how you feel, everyone said. To live every day that way was a revelation.

One of my neighbors was a German woman who had been a street fighter in the Middle East. Another had lived in Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's ashram in Poona, India, another was a laced-up Australian soldier, another was a German doctor who prescribed homeopathic remedies. They professed not to understand us Americans. It's because they'd never seen "The Wizard of Oz."

Aunt DC and I went to a midnight showing last weekend. I doubt "The Wizard of Oz" is as important to you as it was to us growing up. Back then there were only three television networks, and every year families gathered around in their jammies to be frightened by the wicked witches and flying monkeys and to laugh at the Cowardly Lion.

This was the first time we had seen the movie on the big screen. The backdrops that look so wondrous and scary to a child on a TV set aren't so dramatic seen through the eyes of an adult in a movie theater. But the movie is still beautiful. And instructive to anyone thinking about leaving home.

Like Dorothy and her friends, people take on evil only to find our inner demons are our real nemeses. And wherever we go we eventually find out that the problems we encounter have been with us all along.

I encountered lots of lions and tigers and bears and even wizards before finding my way back home and realizing the journey is really within yourself.

Dorothy already has everything she wants and needs. She has only to open her eyes.

Like the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, none of us thinks we're smart enough or caring enough or brave enough. We are. You are.

Love, Uncle Sam

Sam Blackwell is managing editor of the Southeast Missourian.