Ever had the sudden urge to start reading a 900 page novel?
The urge doesn’t happen to me very often either but it did happen over a year ago which compelled me to start reading El Igenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. I know I could have just called it Don Quixote like everybody else but I like the way the original title sounds when it rolls off my tongue.
It isn’t like I was looking at my calendar and thought “man, I have absolutely nothing to do for the next six months, I think I will just sit down and delve into the fascinating world of 17th century Spanish literature.” In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth because my calendar seems to have gotten busier since starting this book than it has ever been in my life. I started reading this book because I wanted to chase a windmill.
I knew almost nothing about this book when I started reading except for one thing: it is about some crazy guy who attacked a windmill.
If you aren’t familiar at all with the escapades of the lanky Spaniard named Don Quixote then picture with me a half crazed old man in unsightly armor seated upon a sad excuse for a horse. The Spanish sun is high above his head as he gazes dramatically into the distance across the plains and spies a long line of windmills. He perceives these windmills to be in reality, evil giants bent on bringing destruction to the land. He therefore takes the responsibility upon himself to put to flight these vessels of torture and thus prove his own bravery and heroicness.
So Don Quixote spurs his horse onward and, lance in hand, charges after the cruel beasts.
Unfortunately, he comes to the conclusion that they really are just windmills as the spinning arms of the machine knock him off of his horse and propel him into the air. The only thing that saved his life was the fact that he is a work of fiction.
The book makes a mockery of Don Quixote, as it is filled with mishap after mishap that the crazy knight and his noble side-kick Sancho Panza brought on themselves in their pursuit of adventure. The scene of chasing windmills is a classic in the world of literature because of its’ absurdity. Nobody in their right mind would attack a windmill.
Although, nobody who is “in their right mind” ever becomes a great work of literature. It is always the crazy ones who change the world.
Could I look at something the world called “normal” and sense a spirit of impossible in it?
Would I mount up my steed and whole-heartedly pursue something that might look crazy to everybody else?
Don Quixote attacked a windmill 58 pages into his 900 page adventure and was forever remembered by that one act. The legacy of heroism he desperately sought after boiled down to the fact that he was that guy who one time chased a windmill.
I want to be known for seeing the impossible and doing everything in my power to pursue it. Everybody is all about five year plans and goal setting but nobody seems to be scheduling in any windmills when they plan out their life. not that there is anything wrong with goals and plans but if we plan out our whole life with no room for the Impossible then we are setting ourselves up for a really boring existence.
I think we need to see more crazy old men running after dreams nobody else can see. Men like Noah, Abraham and Don Quixote. These men didn’t wake up one morning with a desire to entertain their neighbors and make everybody laugh. They saw something no else saw, whether that was a massive flood in a rainless world, a child born to a barren womb or an evil army of giants bent on destruction.
These men had an audience of mockers but I can’t name any of them. When all was said and done the lives of the spectators weren’t important enough to be recorded.
Windmills take on many shapes. Some of them are things you probably will fail at but have to try anyway. Some of them are things that could take a lifetime to accomplish (I still haven’t finished reading the book and I started it about a year and a half ago). Some of them are things you might have to fight alone because nobody will see what you see. All of them will seem impossible to you and crazy to everyone else.
Are you chasing enough windmills?
How much of the impossible do you want?
The urge doesn’t happen to me very often either but it did happen over a year ago which compelled me to start reading El Igenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. I know I could have just called it Don Quixote like everybody else but I like the way the original title sounds when it rolls off my tongue.
It isn’t like I was looking at my calendar and thought “man, I have absolutely nothing to do for the next six months, I think I will just sit down and delve into the fascinating world of 17th century Spanish literature.” In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth because my calendar seems to have gotten busier since starting this book than it has ever been in my life. I started reading this book because I wanted to chase a windmill.
I knew almost nothing about this book when I started reading except for one thing: it is about some crazy guy who attacked a windmill.
If you aren’t familiar at all with the escapades of the lanky Spaniard named Don Quixote then picture with me a half crazed old man in unsightly armor seated upon a sad excuse for a horse. The Spanish sun is high above his head as he gazes dramatically into the distance across the plains and spies a long line of windmills. He perceives these windmills to be in reality, evil giants bent on bringing destruction to the land. He therefore takes the responsibility upon himself to put to flight these vessels of torture and thus prove his own bravery and heroicness.
So Don Quixote spurs his horse onward and, lance in hand, charges after the cruel beasts.
Unfortunately, he comes to the conclusion that they really are just windmills as the spinning arms of the machine knock him off of his horse and propel him into the air. The only thing that saved his life was the fact that he is a work of fiction.
The book makes a mockery of Don Quixote, as it is filled with mishap after mishap that the crazy knight and his noble side-kick Sancho Panza brought on themselves in their pursuit of adventure. The scene of chasing windmills is a classic in the world of literature because of its’ absurdity. Nobody in their right mind would attack a windmill.
Although, nobody who is “in their right mind” ever becomes a great work of literature. It is always the crazy ones who change the world.
Could I look at something the world called “normal” and sense a spirit of impossible in it?
Would I mount up my steed and whole-heartedly pursue something that might look crazy to everybody else?
Don Quixote attacked a windmill 58 pages into his 900 page adventure and was forever remembered by that one act. The legacy of heroism he desperately sought after boiled down to the fact that he was that guy who one time chased a windmill.
I want to be known for seeing the impossible and doing everything in my power to pursue it. Everybody is all about five year plans and goal setting but nobody seems to be scheduling in any windmills when they plan out their life. not that there is anything wrong with goals and plans but if we plan out our whole life with no room for the Impossible then we are setting ourselves up for a really boring existence.
I think we need to see more crazy old men running after dreams nobody else can see. Men like Noah, Abraham and Don Quixote. These men didn’t wake up one morning with a desire to entertain their neighbors and make everybody laugh. They saw something no else saw, whether that was a massive flood in a rainless world, a child born to a barren womb or an evil army of giants bent on destruction.
These men had an audience of mockers but I can’t name any of them. When all was said and done the lives of the spectators weren’t important enough to be recorded.
Windmills take on many shapes. Some of them are things you probably will fail at but have to try anyway. Some of them are things that could take a lifetime to accomplish (I still haven’t finished reading the book and I started it about a year and a half ago). Some of them are things you might have to fight alone because nobody will see what you see. All of them will seem impossible to you and crazy to everyone else.
Are you chasing enough windmills?
How much of the impossible do you want?
No comments:
Post a Comment