“You always had the power, my dear. You just had to learn it for yourself.” ~Glinda
This quote is used A LOT and it should be. On the surface it appears empowering and in a world full of disempowering ideals, anything that empowers us, can always be useful. However here is My Beef with Glinda the Good Witch:
What I have a problem with is that Glinda didn’t listen to Dorothy when she first met her in Munchkinland.
Dorothy very clearly told Glinda that she wanted to GO HOME. She didn’t say she wanted to learn a lesson about her heart’s desire or that she wasn’t sure she wanted to go home. She was very clear about wanting to get the hell out of there and back to her family.
And…Glinda knew the slippers would take her home but decided it might be best for Dorothy to learn a little lesson along the way.
Dorothy did not discover the answer by following the yellow brick road to Oz because Glinda still had to tell her how to use the slippers after that crazy nightmare of an adventure. Glinda had the answer and yet she insisted on Dorothy subjecting herself to scary places, her impending demise by murder and death threats of her friends and dog first.
Why didn’t Glinda listen to her at the beginning?
Hello…she just wanted to go home!
When considering My Beef with Glinda the Good Witch you could argue that if Glinda told her tapping the slippers together 3 times while repeating “there’s no place like home.” Dorothy might think she was crazy and not believe her. But I’m pretty sure that if I suddenly found myself surrounded by little people dancing and singing about a wicked witch I killed because my house had fallen on her. Then a good witch materialized from a bubble appears out of no where. I would have tried tapping my heals together right then and there! I am sure I could have mustered up the belief that home was where I would rather be, at least at that moment.
Why don’t we believe people when they tell us what they want? Why do we think we somehow know what is better for them? Sure, Dorothy gained some insight and wisdom but was it worth the cost? The short answer is, sure but only because it is a movie people! Sensationalism sells. Hollywood knows this. Life does not have to be like the movies. This further supports My Beef with Glinda the Good Witch!
Sure some people don’t know what they want and we make efforts to help and guide them. But when someone knows what they want, and you have the answer, stop messing with them!
I am sure that if I was Dorothy, just as I finished the last “there’s no place like home”, I would have muttered…”Bitch!” Seriously. She could have at least given me the option and saved me these lasting horrific images of flying monkeys and instilled fanatical fears by listening to me in the first place.
