Naughty Jester
Innuendo’ed musings on life, the universe and nothing in particular
Tilting at Windmills
Recently I sped across the plains of the American Midwest. In every direction, thousands of white giants taunted me with their waving arms. I was reminded of Don Quixote, the crazy idealist from Cervantes’ “Man of La Mancha.”
He too saw hulking antagonists instead of churning windmills on the horizon. He sallied forth to slay them in order to win honor for his beloved Dulcinea.
We are left with the saying “tilting at windmills” which is sometimes used to describe confrontations where adversaries are incorrectly perceived. Like, for instance, George Bush looking at Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass(ly invisible) destruction.
DQ was blinded by his righteousness. He viewed the world through the prism of his idealism. Yet by sheer force of demented will he changed the perceptions of those around him.
At first, Dulcinea, the woman for whom he had sworn courtly love, was but Aldonza Lorenzo, a common whore. Yet through his unswerving devotion, she eventually came to believe that she was someone of great worth.
Such is the power of love – to remake reality. Such is the potency of pure belief – to take a nation into war.
So do you dream the impossible dream? What is it?
Comments
5 Responses to “Tilting at Windmills”
Tilting at windmills . . . in business or debate arguring a red herring argument. Yes, life’s enemies aren’t always real. So, I just believe in being careful who we name as our enemies or as the enemy. This would include (and here I fail too often) thinking before one speaks about something or someone you don’t like. You will probably find, if challenged that your reasons I weak or non-existent.
Yes, love can re-make reality, but I think of it more in terms that love can help us shape a reality that we would never have thought was possible. That’s the world I live in.
Thanks for writing.
Dan
Dan Wilson | May 14th, 2009, 9:09 amyes, love can bend fiction to reality and vice versa … thx for stopping by
Naughty Jester | May 14th, 2009, 9:39 ami dream
the impossible
dream…………
i love this story
because don quixote
sees…..what aldonza
can be…the idealized
version…….i believe
the way we percieve life
is how life becomes…
dreaming the impossible
dream…enables sweet
life to be as we see it
and…as for the dragons…
yes…i too sometimes
see dragons…where there
are only windmills….
this is what makes the
novel…timeless…cervantes
has captured…the human
spirit….the mind…we
can laugh at and love
don quixote…but we
are all so much
like him…we need
a dulcinea….to yearn
for…and dragons to slay
make life…..dream life
live in this life…..
don quixote…me…
common or uncommon
whore…to be
or not to
be….
damn..
straight…
cheers & ooo la la
Dulcinea~
Aldonza~Dulcinea | May 14th, 2009, 2:13 pmso there is much to be said for realizing the ideal …. without it
life is so much
the blander
Naughty Jester | May 14th, 2009, 3:12 pmDreaming the impossible dream is ‘hope’ by another name. I think hope is very important to human happiness and is what makes us strive to find or create our very own.
When you shorten Don’s name to DQ I had to think. I thought we were jumping over to talk about the ice cream place
ymmmmm
Connie | May 28th, 2009, 12:41 pmAdd A Comment