LETTERS FROM HOME: FOLLOWING THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD IS DIFFERENT IN ADULTHOOD

Nov. 12, 1998

The house began to twitch, and then to pitch -- "The Wizard of Oz"

Dear Leslie,

DC and I saw the new digitized version of "The Wizard of Oz" at our local state-of-the-art movie house. Some things, like childhood memories, shouldn't be updated.

My memories are based on the once-annual viewings of the movie on TV, of course. The picture was much smaller, the quality much lower and the commercial breaks were predictable.

Now the wonderland Dorothy steps into when her house lands in Oz looks like nothing so much as a well-groomed movie set. The flowers are obviously plastic, the horizons obviously painted. And every flaw, from bad lighting to bad acting on the part of a Munchkin, is blown out of proportion.

The truism that the small screen improves some movies was never truer than in this case. The magic was gone, replaced by an awareness that Ray Bolger's Scarecrow uses his stumbling routine a few times too often and Aunt Em really was emotionally abusive. Or maybe I've changed and the movie hasn't.

DC avoided seeing "The Wizard of Oz" until she was in college because the wicked witch frightened her so. But her reaction at the movie theater was similar to mine. Give us back the magic.

Remember the German woman, Regina, I knew in Big Sur? She had a poor opinion of America, didn't really understand our engineering, and with the language barrier I sometimes was at a loss to explain. Finally I said one viewing of "The Wizard of Oz" would tell her everything she needed to know about America.

Thankfully, its essence is forever intact. All of us know the yearning to escape our troubles through a change of scenery, and eventually we discover the real journey within. The wonderland we must explore is an interior one whose map describes our souls.

"Wherever the hero may wander, whatever he may do, he is ever in the presence of his own essence -- for he has the perfected eye to see. There is no separateness," Joseph Campbell writes.

All of us have a quest, whether we leave home to pursue it or not. Mission impossible is to align ourselves with our destiny. Intelligence, an open heart and courage are required.

We will walk through dark, frightening forests, annihilate our demons and unmask false leaders before we confront the truth that God has given us everything we need to complete our task. We lack only belief in ourselves.

It was wrong to think this is a peculiarly American quest. Campbell says redemption is revealed through different symbols in the various parts of the world. "Truth is one," the Vedas say; "the sages call it by many names."

We survived the big Midwestern storm intact. Predictions of overnight wind gusts up to 70 mph had DC on the phone telling a California friend, "I'm battening down the hatches." There was excitement in her voice. This is her kind of scariness -- preparing for the worst.

The wind blasted against the windows occasionally but when we awoke the plastic she'd draped over the computer turned out to have been unnecessary. And our painting of a yellow rowboat at sea could be returned to its wall.

No whirlwind had transported us to an imaginary land to be confronted by our fears. You want magic? You want Oz? Wake up, open your eyes.

Love, Sam

~Sam Blackwell is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.