Flying Monkeys

I've always thought the flying monkeys in the film version of the Wizard of Oz we're creepy.  Despite the decades old special effects, those simians are still a more potent instiller of fear than anything else I've seen in the movies.  Mind you, I'm not scared of them now and I don't know that I ever really was, but they still strike me as being wicked and best avoided.  But we're talking about them, so, we'll stick with them for a bit.

I wonder what L Frank Baum was thinking when he conjured up those monkeys.  Something had to be in this mind, maybe subconsciously, for him to create them.  Which leads me to a question: do you have something you fear?  Something that you might imagine in tangible form?  It might be monsters, it might be the tax man, or it might be confronting your sins.
Ah, yes, sin.  It's ugly like a flying monkey.  And it dive bombs and buzzes us, depending on the circumstances.  But it's there.  And where there is one sin, there are usually more.  We can try to flee them, maybe even hide, but that doesn't make them go away.  Alternatively, we can face our fear, confront our sins, and repent.  Then they'll retreat.
All of this may sound weird, but sometimes we need to look at our fears, and failings, in new ways so we can confront them.

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