"If I only had a heart.." the Tin Man sings minutes after being awoken from his "sleep." Not long after, he and his new friends set off on a journey to seek the things they truly longed for. Upon reaching their destination where they believed they would receive the things they sought, they discovered that they had within them what they longed for all the while. Tin Man did indeed have a heart, though he had confessed after waking that he was empty.
It occurred to me that the nicest of people always seem to have overcome the big challenges that life brings them, thus giving them the biggest of hearts. Sometimes we find that while we are living, life seems to happen to us in ways that can potentially cripple us and keep us from moving forward. In the Tin Man's case, all he needed was a friend to come along and offer help he couldn't give himself. Then all, with interwoven support, set off on individual journeys and ultimate discovery. As it happened, each's personal journey was shared with someone else's. Really none of the crew could have pulled it off on their own. Truly, we are meant to get through this life together.