“I’m a very good man. I’m just a very bad wizard,” says the Wizard of Oz in the 1939 movie of the same name. You remember don’t you? Dorothy and company return to see the wizard unexpectedly, having achieved the all-but-impossible task of killing the Wicked Witch and returning with her broomstick as proof. The surprised wizard begins to turn them away, but before any resolution to the situation is achieved, Toto reveals the man behind the curtain. The group is shocked. They cannot believe he is the wizard. He tells them, “I am afraid it’s true. There is no other wizard except me.” The look on their faces is bewilderment (pause the clip @ 1:28) and, although brief, reveals maybe more about them than about the wizard.
The Wizard of Oz is then called and admits to being a humbug. However, he immediately follows up his admission and the accusation that he is a bad man with, “Oh no, dear, I am a very good man. I’m just a very bad wizard.” And while there is a lot to analyze in this character, it is Dorothy and her friends that are on my mind this week. They are at first shocked, then full of disbelief, and finally disappointed. At first glance it is about the wizard. How could he do this to them? How has he been able to keep up the charade with the citizens of Emerald City? But I am challenged to flip the script: instead of the wizard, what about Dorothy? Instead of it wondering why he did this, pause and consider why they were so dismayed. They had put all their hopes on this wizard’s abilities to help them out, to give them what they so desperately desired. They believed that they had done all they could and should do to achieve those desires, so in that moment when the possibility of help from the wizard appeared to have vanished, they were dumbfounded.
In the last couple of weeks at SMS, it appears that interactions have left some dumbfounded. When it is believed that prior actions and experiences, one’s hopes and desires, have all been completed, a certain outcome should occur. In reality though, that outcome appears to vanish. What does this reveal?
I am pausing to consider if this is about the system or about the child? …but maybe it is not about either. Maybe it needs to instead be about us. I need to look at our actions and not just about what I think the child needs – what we want and what we desire – but what the child wants and desires.
My wife works hard on her mental health and staying positive. Also occuring this week was her request that I write something for her on a Post-it note. She wants to read it daily, see it in my penmanship, and know it is from me. I got a little choked up. As someone who prefers verbalization, I stammered that “I could just say it to you.” Then I realized that what I was saying was more about me than her. It was what I thought she needed and was asking for. I paused and considered that it should not be what I thought she needed but instead to hear her and give her what she wanted. I am working on doing more of this, so I wrote: “You are enough!”
Weeks at a Glance
- Tuesday, February 6 - Information and Tour Night @ 5:30 pm, sixth grade campus
- Tuesday, Febrary 13 - Seventh Grade Field Trip to Baker Park Reserve Outdoor Learning Center