We are too much like the people of Oz!

Walking is Cathartic for me and I often am amazed at what comes flowing through the waves of this old brain. Sometimes it is pretty mundane; sometimes very sad; sometimes happy and a lot of times just plain surreal.

But then there are mornings like this when a scene from a movie pops up right in the middle of my conversation with Self and Goddess.

So, I was musing about how quiet social media has gotten now that 2 weeks have gone by since the misogynistic driven killing happened. This led me to remember 9/11. I was fully involved in the Christian Church at that time and remember people flocking to church during the week for prayer and consolation; for a desire to understand what happened and to ask their God to help us revenge this horrible killing. The pews were packed as were the weekly prayer services. It was happening to all Christian denominations, Jewish and Buddhist temples. People were showing up in droves waiting for the Pastor/Priest/Rabbi to give them words from the Divine One!

And then within a few months, if that long, the people went back to their lives and the religious buildings were once again less than full.

In popped a scene from The Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy and her friends are in the Green Castle where the People of Oz live with the Wizard in Charge! They have just gotten all dolled up so they would look presentable to the Wizard and all of a sudden there in the Sky the Wicked Witch of the West is writing Surrender Dorothy! Do you remember?

All the people run to the entrance to the Wizard, in fear with questions as to the meaning of this event. As they gather, the Guard of the Door, quiets them:

  Here -- here -- here -- wait a minute!
          Wait a minute! Stop - stop - stop! It's
          all right!

                    GUARD
          Every -- It's all right! Everything is
          all right! The Great and Powerful Oz has
          got matters well in hand - I hope -- So
          you can all go....

                    GUARD
          ...home -- and there's nothing to worry

and assures them that the Wizard has everything under control and they are to now go home. And they all turn and go back to their activities.

That is what happened after 9/11. We all went back to what we were doing and trusted that Someone had it all under control so we could go about our selfish lives.

This happens over and over again, does it not? That is why we keep fighting the same battles over and over again. That is why some of us continually say "wait; this is cropping up again; didn't we already take care of this?"

And so, it happened after Columbine; after Va Tech shooting; after the Theater mass murder; after Sandy Hook; after.......do you get the picture. So after the most recent mass murders, once again the debates began about gun control, mental illness and now misogyny has come to the surface as it does when we battle reproductive rights after some political person makes horrible comments or another abortion clinic gets closed down.

And after a few days, we all seem to go back to our lives of making money; keeping house; going to school; raising children; playing sports; etc etc etc.

But in the Wizard of Oz; Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion would not give up. They stayed and did not leave when the Guard told every one to do so. They had a mission; they had problems to solve; and they, led by Dorothy, would NOT stop until they saw the Wizard. But if you notice; everyone else left and went home.

And that is what we do as human beings. Maybe it's because we think "someone" really is taking care of it. Or maybe "it" is way too overwhelming and it is easier to just stop thinking about it. Or maybe this is the way we are conditioned to deal with The Journey. We want Something to happen, but not if it interferes with OUR OWN PERSONAL AGENDA! And of course, we love the BLAME game!

It is interesting to see how quickly people now play the Mental Illness card during these horrific acts. "Oh we really can't do anything about this because he was mentally ill. Guns don't kill people; mentally ill people kill people." And so the right wing protects their precious guns and the left wing protects their mentally ill. And the rest of us go about our business cause the Guard of the Wizard assured us it would be taken care of. We scream and yell our individual positions on social media and then it becomes old news and we get back to our own lives.

Oh, but then the next murders come and we are SHOCKED that this has happened again and we rush to the "Wizards" in our lives (FOX and CNN; churches; facebook; Twitter, etc) but then we "go back home" until the next situation shows itself!

Doesn't this make you tired? It does me and I was exhausted at the end of last week. I am so done watching this cycle go on and on and on. I get tired of thinking of all the sit-ins and peace and civil rights marches I participated in. I get tired of thinking how many years I have been a Voice for Women's Rights; Children's Rights, etc. It's been a long road.

BUT I am too much like Dorothy! I will continue to push the "Guard" at the Door until He lets me in to see the Wizards! How about you? What if we all refused to "go home"? What would that look like? Well, I hope to one day see it happen; and soon!

I'll see you at the Door!