The Rainbow Connection

Earlier today, I had a lengthy chat with a friend of mine regarding some folks that we know, and the idea of chasing rainbows came up. We've all been guilty of it at one point in our lives or another.

There is that individual, that goal, that job, that home, that dream that we would be willing to set everything aside for to reach it. And yet, it's always out of reach.

I'm not talking about those dreams that are ultimately attainable, though. I'm talking about those things, or people, that are 100%, absolutely, unattainable. While it breaks my heart to confess, I will never be Mrs. Johnny Depp. But, when I was 16, that didn't stop me from covering notebooks with his pictures, learning everything that there was to learn about him and watching every episode of "21 Jump Street" ad nauseum.

But once we turn from adolescent to adult, the notion of chasing rainbows, beyond day dreams and fantasy, is recognized as just that - chasing an illusion. And, more often than not, a self-deluded one. That's not to say it's an unhealthy exercise to chase a rainbow now and then, but at some point, a rational adult will recognize that the thrill is in the chase, and that rainbows are endless.

Back to the conversation... it seems that someone that we know, that one of us cares about (moreso, at least than the other), is determined to land that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. However, we both, and others, know that should they ever find the end of that rainbow, they will be disillusioned with the lump of coal they will find as their "treasure".

Call me Ishmael, but there are some rainbows that are never meant to be caught. And, at the end of the day, when you end up broken and miserable without a speck of spectrum in your fingers, but just damp air and blisters, if you chase that rainbow long and far enough, you'll leave behind anyone that you could turn to for support, commiseration, etc.

The land of Oz was just the dream of a small Kansas girl. And the answer was always always right under her nose, she just never appreciated it.

I'd say of most of my friends, I am one of the guiltiest of them all when it comes to being one of those lovers, the dreamers and, well, me, to quote a wise, old frog. So I don't speak from pure observation, but from experience.

The question is, how many clouds of your own mind do you have to fall from before you realize that the rainbow is merely a figment of the imagination?

Perhaps that's the lesson. You have to fall, or suffer a concussion in a storm to be able to awaken from the technicolor day dreams to see what reality is, and what dreams and goals await for you in the real world. Not in the collection of figments of your imagination, or well-lit raindrops. The Wizard is merely a rainmaker hidden behind grand mystery and a curtain. The magical Scarecrow is just a farm hand.

And life really is just as wonderful as the fantasy, if you have the brains, the heart, the home and da noive to see it. It's time to come out of the daze of that fall in the tornado. There are people around you waiting for you to come out of it, waiting with open arms. You don't need the rainbow, or what's on the other side. Leave that to the muppets.