The Wizard of Oz

By L. Frank Baum

Original copyright 1900

This edition 1980

I’ve read this book once before, yet it is the movie version that is foremost in my memory.  After a recent re-reading, I was struck by a difference I hadn’t remembered.  I already knew the film version’s ruby slippers were silver in the original story.  And I recalled that in the movie, Oz was just a dream of Dorothy’s, while in the book it actually existed.

What I hadn’t remembered is that the emerald city isn’t really all green.  What?!  Oz forces all residents and visitors to have emerald colored glasses locked onto their heads before entering the city.  He claims it is to keep the brilliance of the emeralds from damaging their eyes.  And they believe that he has their best interests in mind.  But it’s just a scam.  In actuality, everything is colored conventionally and the glasses make all appear green. 

 

I want to see the world through my own clear lenses – not through someone else’s lenses of what they think it should be.  Sometimes that might mean the world appears brilliant and green, but sometimes in might be dull and plain.  And if it appears dull and plain, then maybe I should do something about it myself.  Rather than putting on a pair of fake lenses, I could strive to add a little more real brilliance and color.