Traveling Down the Yellow Brick Road of COVID-19
Excerpt - By William D. Parham, Ph.D., ABPP
The social, emotional, educational, economic, and other damage and devastation inflicted on our global community by COVID-19 is as unmistakable as the destructive vortex of the violently swirling winds of a tornado, an experience forever ingrained indelibly in the emotional memory of survivors. So, too, will this coronavirus experience be etched as an emotional marker of chaos, confusion, and challenge not likely to fade away for many years to come.
In 1939, Dorothy experienced a scary climatological phenomenon. The peace and tranquility of the Kansas home of her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, with whom Dorothy resided, was interrupted violently when a powerful tornado raged into town and lifted their comfortable and modest home off its foundation where it had rested seemingly forever. The violent spinning funnel transported the house to a destination far away to a place called Oz, in a land where munchkins made their home. Awakened dazed and confused from her nightmare journey, Dorothy adjusted slowly and cautiously to an awareness that something was very different. After a few moments of quieting her anxiety about her new reality, Dorothy heartbrokenly proclaims to her Cairn Terrier, Toto, “I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore!”
The story of Dorothy’s travels to find the wizard parallels each of our respective and nuanced yellow brick road journeys through this coronavirus pandemic. You see, the 1939 classic movie invites us to consider that we do not have to go on some yellow brick road journey in search of someone else to help us discover the brains, heart, and courage we innately possess. We simply need to accept the notion that a wizard lies in each of us and can be accessed at any time if we are ready and want to go there.
Dorothy did not start and end her dramatic travels in Kansas. Dorothy’s journey began in her heart during a time in her life when she was overwhelmed by significant chaos, confusion, and challenges, emotionally akin to a vortex of swirling tornado winds. She returned, not to Kansas, but to her heart where she found heightened abilities to think critically, untapped emotional strength to fuel her through difficult times, and unacknowledged courage to respond to life’s inclement circumstances and psychological storms.
What will we see and discover when we awaken from the storm and inclement circumstances of coronavirus? Will we feel dazed and confused and wonder where we have landed? What qualities about ourselves will we be able to see differently? Will we discover the treasures hiding in plain sight in the social, familial, community, work, health, and spiritual environments by which we continue to be nourished? What aspects of our lives, both short- and longer-term, will we decide are truly important and worth pursuing from here forward? Answers to these questions can only be found in the Emerald City of our mind and heart where our wizard perpetually resides. We can access our place of solace and comfort if we really want to go there and if we believe that we will arrive at our destination. So, when ready, close your eyes and repeat silently to yourself, there’s no place like home!
