Where Can I Buy a Pair of Ruby Slippers?

In The Wizard of Oz, we follow the story of Dorothy Gale as she is whisked away from her boring life in Kansas to the magical land of Oz and all of its intriguing characters. I have heard it said that this tale is actually a metaphor for modern society or government and when you think about it, the story still fits today.

The way I see it, Dorothy finds her life in Kansas to be pretty lame. Everybody is always telling her what to do, a creepy old bat down the road hates her dog and wants to take him away, she spends a lot of her time doing chores and no one really has a lot of time to spend with her because they are working so hard to keep up with the responsibilities of farm life.

One day, Dorothy finds herself caught up in a storm and carried off to a strange new land inhabited by little people, witches, talking scarecrows, a lion that walks upright and is afraid of his own shadow and a heartless tin woodsman. They embark on an adventure to find a mysterious wizard who has amazing powers and can puportedly help Miss Gale find her way home. We all know what happens with the good witch and the bad witch and those creepy flying monkeys, and how, in the end, Dorothy has the power to return home any time she wants to, right at her feet.

In thinking about this story in current times, I pondered the idea that even though Dorothy was bored to death and felt neglected in Kansas, it was still home and all she wanted was to get back to her home and family. While she imagined a life more glamorous and exciting, when she actually lived it, she found that familiar and humdrum were actually much more appealing. In effect, change wasn't necessarily a good thing.

So how does this match up with current events? Hmmm, let's compare and contrast, shall we?

First of all, there are a lot of folks who think that this new administration will cast a magic spell on our country. That imaginary potion will supposedly solve all of our financial problems, end the war on terror, end our energy problems, find a solution to the imagined "global warming crisis" and give everyone free high-speed internet access, among many other things. Wow. All this and tax cuts for people who aren't even paying taxes. Who wouldn't love this kind of change?

Well, pardon me if I find it a bit far-fetched to think that one guy can do this, but hey, who am I to doubt? A promise is a promise, right? All I know is that behind every curtain that supposedly hides a wizard is just a man throwing switches that power a smoke machine and some loudspeakers. And all it takes is one persistent and nosey little dog to rat him out.

The key to the whole Wizard of Oz story and today's world is that once Dorothy realized that the beautiful land of Oz was not all it was cracked up to be, she longed for the simple life she knew. That life was made ideal by the basic tenets of life: Hard work, following the rules and most of all, love of family. It was all black and white. Glitter and pretty colors were simply an illusion.

There will always be mean people who want to take what we have, but we have to stand up for what's right and tell them to stay out of our business, the way we need to keep the government in its place and out of our personal lives as much as possible. Instead of depending on special programs, handouts and bailouts, we need to put God and family first, work hard, live within our means and help our neighbors when they need a hand.

When we do those things, we use our brains, our courage and our hearts and we have no need of a fake wizard behind a pretty curtain making bargains he can't keep when we bring him the remains of the evil witch's broom. We need to remember that there's no place like Home Sweet America while we still have our home and before we put our faith in man instead of God.

Instead of blindly following the yellow brick road shortcut to better times through a field filled with beautiful, drug-laced poppies and waiting for a freak snowstorm to wake us up to reality, maybe we should just take the longer, more difficult road around the field and earn our way back to economic stability and a better standing in the global community the old fashioned way: Through the positive example of good old American hard work and dedication.

I keep hoping that we will wake up from this nightmare and find it was all just a bad dream but it hasn't happened yet. Those ruby slippers may be our only hope after all.