We're Off To See The Wizard

Follow the yellow arrow.
Follow the yellow arrow.
Follow, O follow, O follow, O follow,
Follow the yellow arrow.
We're off to Santiago - de Compostela....

 

The second time I saw the movie "The Way," the scene in which Tom, Sarah, and Joost meet Jack (the blocked writer) reminded me of the scene in the Wizard of  Oz in which Dorothy meets the Scarecrow. Inevitably, every time I have seen the movie since (probably more than 20 times), the Oz metaphor has extended: Tom is Dorothy, Joost is the Cowardly Lion, and Sarah the Tin Man. It is not a perfect metaphor, but like the Oz quest story, our travelers find no wizard or magic in Santiago; only the realization that what they had been seeking was inside them all along. Like Dorothy and her fellow travelers, this improbable community of pilgrims became so focused on the mythical destination, that they failed to notice the transformations happening along the yellow-bricked road itself.Now it is I who am on the Camino, making my way, little by little, to Oz. From the time I crossed into Spain, I have been singing "Follow the yellow arrow..." and that ubiquitous arrow has become the constant reminder to me that there is no wizard in Santiago de Compostela. In fact, if you listen to the post-modernist skeptics, there are not even relics of one of Jesus' Apostles in Santiago. (For the record,  I am not one of those skeptics.  I believe that there is a real possibility that Santiago's relics are there,  but that is another post for another time.) Regardless, there is no magic in Santiago de Compostela. Yes, for millions of pilgrims over the years, Santiago has been a destination. But in one sense, it is just that: a destination; a plot on the map. The yellow arrows, like Dorothy ' s yellow bricks, are a constant reminder to keep moving forward torward that destination.  But to do so cognizant that there is no man behind the curtain and that the miracles are happening, not in Santiago, but on the road marked with yellow arrows.

My pilgrim's hat is decorated with pins and "campaign ribbons" from various pilgrimages that have made up my time in Spain. Two of them have yellow arrows and  say "El Camino es la meta." ("The Camino IS the goal.") The yellow arrows do not so much point to a destination as remind us that each day, as we walk, as we make our WAY (CAMINO), we have reached that day's destination. Each day, we, like Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion, are to discover in ourselves and on the Way, that which is inside...