No Place Like Home
Lucinda Farr on finding inspiration in the land of Oz.
My mind has often thought of L. Frank Baum’s famous line from The Wizard of Oz throughout this year of strife not only in our country but the world. The words reverberate in my head. “There’s no place like home.” Home has been our base, our prison, our safe place, our workspace, our school, and our playground. My hope is that my children will always hold this quote close to their hearts as the pandemic brought them home during the shutdown. Our journey of family isolation was indeed an adventure and a gift to be treasured, as was Dorothy’s.
A tornado transported Dorothy to the land of Oz just as we in the U.S. face fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. Her journey down the yellow brick road is a metaphor for the new paths that must be constructed in our ever-changing world. We all remember the Tin Man who needed a heart, the Cowardly Lion who needed courage, and the Scarecrow who needed a brain.
These seemingly unlikely allies formed a union to get to Oz. There are so many unlikely unions in our world today forging paths against racial injustice, battling authoritarianism to uphold democracy, feeding the hungry, and sheltering the homeless.
Dorothy and her friends reached Oz only to discover that the great and powerful wizard was simply a man, a fake. A valuable lesson was learned by these unlikely friends through their journey. The Tin Man did not need a heart. The Scarecrow did not need a brain. The Lion did not need courage. Dorothy did not need magical help to return home. They had everything they needed all along. They simply needed to believe; believe in themselves and each other. Home is with the ones you love, whether in Kansas or in Oz.
Lucinda Farr is a mother of two college kids, a small business owner, and a writer whose great-grandmother proclaimed at her birth that they would be a writer.
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical directed by Victor Fleming. According to the Library of Congress, it is the most viewed film in cinema history.