Tilting At Windmills

Tilting At Windmills

  One of my all-time favorite heroes is Don Quijote; a man after my own imagination. I read this story when I was still in school. I often go back and re-read portions of it. I was doing just that this morning. There are good lessons for dealing with life sprinkled generously throughout. Below is my favorite scene from this story. With our brave Don Quijote on his proud steed, Rocinante, with lance in hand preparing to battle giants…

  “This is nobel, righteous warfare, for it is wonderfully useful to God to have such an evil race wiped from the face of the earth."
"What giants?" Asked Sancho Panza.
"The ones you can see over there," answered his master, "with the huge arms, some of which are very nearly two leagues long."
"Now look, your grace," said Sancho, "what you see over there aren't giants, but windmills, and what seems to be arms are just their sails, that go around in the wind and turn the millstone."
"Obviously," replied Don Quijote, "you don't know much about adventures.” 

  Obviously indeed. My life has not been a hotbed of adventures. There have been some, but they were few and far between. But in my head, they come regularly like marching bands in a Thanksgiving’s Day parade. Which in itself can be satisfying enough. But life, at least mine anyway, does not often afford us the opportunity to defend our honor or test our mettle in “nobel, righteous warfare”. As I’ve written before, I often asked myself, that if I were to find myself in such a test, would I be as brave as Don Quijote? The few times I was tested, the answer was a resounding yes. I knew I had the mettle. All I lacked was the appropriate adventure. Like Don Quijote, when the adventures have been lacking in the real world, I’m pretty good at conjuring them up in the not so real world. It has sufficed. Now that I’ve more years under my belt, it’s all I could manage anyhow…at least I’m honest enough to admit it.

  It has been my experience that there are far too many Sancho’s in the world, though; those that see only windmills where you and I see giants. My father is a Sancho. He does not even entertain the notion of fantasy, fiction, or make believe. To him, there is no value in it. He refuses to even watch a movie that is something other than what he thinks is possible or a retelling of actual events. All else is just silly nonsense. He would never even consider reading one of my books. His attention to detail and sticking to the facts, I guess, made him a really good detective. And the world needs the likes of him. I guess that’s why there are so many of them around. It would be a very sad and dreary place, however, if we ever pushed aside the Don Quijotes and made the world unsafe for them to inhabit. So, if you have a child that often talks to their toys and creates imaginary worlds and friends, smile and encourage them like my mother did me. Or better yet, join them. You’re never too old to have adventures, or keep the world safe from evil giants. 

Don't let this happen.