Don Quixote

Thinking Out Loud: Optimism is the Fuel

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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.

Thinking Out Loud: Love is All

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“Then, his armor being furnished, his morion turned into a helmet, his hack christened, and he himself confirmed, He came to the conclusion that nothing more was needed now but to look out for a lady to be in love with; For a knight-errant without love was like a tree without leaves or fruit, or a body without a soul.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: Love is all. Love completes us. It requires us to bury our ego so we may love another without any thought to ourselves. When one has this type of love relationship, one forgets who he or she is and becomes immersed in the other forming a new identity. Two separate people become one. Neither one feels suffocated or trapped. Each feels, perhaps for the first time, alive and free to experience life at a heightened level.

Thinking Out Loud: It’s Time to Slay our Dragons

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“Fortune is arranging matters for us better than we could have shaped our desires ourselves, for look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants present themselves, all of them whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with those spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes . . . What giants,” said Sancho Panza.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: When we set out on our adventure we will have monstrous giants (metaphorically) to slay. Many of those whom we considered friends will not see what we are seeing on our adventure. Their minds are closed as stay behind their emotional barricades. The giants we slay may be our fear, pride, greed, or an unjust cause. If we are to be successful in our adventure, we have to slay our dragons.

Thinking Out Loud: Defending the Defenseless

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“Seeing what was going on, Don Quixote said in an angry vie, “Discourteous knight, it ill becomes you to assail on who cannot defend himself, mount your steed and take you land and I will you know that you are behaving as a coward.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: Throughout our world, in our cities and towns, and in our neighborhoods, there are people too weak to defend themselves. In a scene from the movie Romero, a peasant woman stops Archbishop Romero on the street and says to him, “If you do not speak for us, who will?” In Ralph Ellison’s book, The Invisible Man, Ellison says, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” Who are the invisible people in your life that need defending?

Thinking Out Loud: Become a Prospector of Good

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“The girls were looking at him and straining their eyes to make out the features which the clumsy visor obscured, but when they heard themselves called maidens, a thing so much out of their line, they could not restrain their laughter, which made Don Quixote wax indignant, and say, “Modesty becomes the fair, and moreover laughter that has little cause is great silliness; This, however, I say not to pain or anger you, for my desire is none other than to serve you”” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: Don Quixote’s view of the women was different from that which most had of them. Don Quixote saw beyond the surface and saw the goodness each woman had that was obscured by their reputation. How often I judge others by appearance or reputation only to be humbled when I more deeply discover the person’s gifts. When we look for the good in others, we usually find it. When we cut them some slack, we often find that they are cutting us some slack. We are imperfect beings working our way through life. I think it’s better to be prospectors for the good in others and in ourselves.

Thinking Out Loud: What Do You See?

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“The moment he saw the inn he pictured it to himself as a castle with its four turrets and pinnacles of shining silver, not forgetting the drawbridge and Moat and all the belongings usually ascribed to castles of the sort.  To this end, which to him seemed a castle, he advanced, and at a short distance from it . . . hoping some dwarf would show himself upon the battlements and by the sound of trumpet give notice that a knight was approaching the castle. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: Don Quixote was a dreamer. He saw things not as they were but as they could be. That’s the way it is with dreamers. One person looks at a house and sees a building. Another looks at the same property and sees a home overflowing with love. One person sees a piece of bread and tosses it in the trash. Another sees a piece of bread and sees a meal. How do we look at ourselves? Do we look at our lives with dull, clouded eyes. Or, do we look at our lives with a dreamer’s eyes seeing not what is but what we will become?

Thinking Out Loud:

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: Are you a dreamer? Do you dare see life as it should be and not as it is? If we dare to live our lives as we believe the world should be, we have to be prepared for the criticism of those who lost the ability to dream. They fear a world where there is no global warming. They fear a world where love reigns. They fear a world where people of every race, culture, ethnicity, and gender can live peacefully together. I prefer to be a dreamer and believe the dream is within our grasp.

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