Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes work, Don Quixote.
“Keep in mind, Sancho, that one man is no more than another, unless he does more than another; all these tempests that fall upon us are signs that fair weather is coming shortly, and that things will go well for us. For it is impossible for good or evil to last forever; and hence it follows that the evil having lasted long the good must be now nigh at hand, so thou must not distress thyself at the misfortunes which happened to me since thou has no share in them.” ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Note: like Don Quixote’s optimism. Even though he had many misfortunes, he kept believing that something good was going to happen. He was a happy warrior. When I read the online news, I see articles written by one naysayer after another predicting doom and gloom. They never admit when they’re wrong. They go on to predicting doom and gloom about something else. We live in a democracy. When we live in a democracy. We have faith that the people who live in the democracy will get it right. Democracies are grand experiments of groups of people working together to govern themselves. It takes optimism to live in a democracy and the firm belief that together we can make this experiment work. It’s the same in families. When two people get together to form a family they say to each other, “This is an experiment. And if we work at it and commit ourselves to making it work it will work. It takes optimism to fuel the fire for success.