The instant I discovered that my blog required a title my mind immediately went to work. Over the next few days, I strained over a list of uninspiring ideas, losing hope of producing a catchy title with each passing moment. Finally, and to my surprise, the title came to me --Headphone in ear, iPod in hand. My iPod, the beacon of inspiration, carefully shuffled Elton John's, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", into play. My reaction and realization were immediate, and at the sound of the first note my mind had sealed the deal. I had a "eureka" moment appropriately accompanied, as I imagined, by a light bulb above my head and heavenly chorals of hallelujah.

I find it particularly difficult to explain why this song has such an impact on my life and I do not wish to bore anyone with pyramiding paragraphs. So, I will keep it simple and to the point: In life, I believe that everyone is like Dorothy and that we all pursue a Land of Oz. Cheesy as it may sound, I believe we are all born with an authentic void inside and progress through life trying to fill its emptiness, most often unsuccessfully.

This lifelong process can be visualized and similarly compared to how infants play with a shape-sorting cube. A shape-sorting cube, for those robbed of a childhood, is a large cube with different shape cutouts and blocks. The trick is built in the blocks; they are cut precisely to fit only one unique hole in the cube. Frequently, toddlers are left bewildered in their attempts to smash a star block through a circle hole. Sadly, we hardly examine the shape of our own hollows and are seen displaying the same infantile behavior throughout our lives.

The cause of misguidance is heavily due to the disregard of our void’s distinctiveness, but also a result of misplaced love. Today, happiness is dislocated in a life of opulence, allowing the Land of Oz to assume several different forms (money, women, fame, strength, intellect or beauty). Vanities, such as these, serve only as temporary distractions and partial occupants, dissatisfying our hollowness. People pave and follow their ‘yellow brick roads’ to their lavish and mislaid destinations, only to arrive unhappy.