Most know the story of Don Quixote the Man of La Mancha - Last night I watched the film version with Peter O’toole and Sophia Loren which is 1 part musical and all parts wonderful.  (If you don’t know the story then 60 seconds on wikipedia can bring you up to speed.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote  For a story first published in 1605 making in over 400 years old it is most wonderful as Don Quixote sets out on a wonderful and insane crusade to restore chivalry to the world.  I fell in love with his madness, his boldness and his ability even in his unbalanced state to inspire others and do good in the world.  His chosen reality created possibilities and hope among many whose current reality was quite bleak.  I could go on and on and there are many brilliant bit of wisdom that might be shared from this adventure…but in light of the celebration of Valentine’s Day let me share a few that focus on the virtue of love… from their perspective of the delusional Don Quixote the Chivalrous Knight, the Man of La Mancha  (It is my belief that we each choose and create our own reality.  So each time we choose invites us to consider carefully, choose wisely, and choose courageously!)

“Remember that there are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body. That of the soul displays its radiance in intelligence, in chastity, in good conduct, in generosity, and in good breeding, and all these qualities may exist in an ugly man. And when we focus our attention upon that beauty, not upon the physical, love generally arises with great violence and intensity. I am well aware that I am not handsome, but I also know that I am not deformed, and it is enough for a man of worth not to be a monster for him to be dearly loved, provided he has those spiritual endowments I have spoken of.”  ~ Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote Part 1 Of 2

“There were no embraces, because where there is great love there is often little display of it.” ~ - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

“I know who I am and who I may be, if I choose.” ~ - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote de La Mancha, Vol 1  (My wife says that Love is not something you fall into or out of …it is something you choose your way into or out of.)

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

“Virtue is persecuted by the wicked more than it is loved by the good.”  - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Don Quixote’s first great adventure begins with him believing Windmills to be 4 armed giants….which he promptly attacks without mercy.

“Destiny guides our fortunes more favorably than we could have expected. Look there, Sancho Panza, my friend, and see those thirty or so wild giants, with whom I intend to do battle and kill each and all of them, so with their stolen booty we can begin to enrich ourselves. 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.”  ~ - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

“The fear thou art in, Sancho,” said Don Quixote, “prevents thee from seeing or hearing correctly, for one of the effects of fear is to derange the senses and make things appear different from what they are; if thou art in such fear, withdraw to one side and leave me to myself, for alone I suffice to bring victory to that side to which I shall give my aid;” and so saying he gave Rocinante the spur, and putting the lance in rest, shot down the slope like a thunderbolt.”  - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

A few other bits of lovely wisdom…that I just couldn’t help but share follow (more be found by clicking here) 

“I do not deny that what happened to us is a thing worth laughing at. But it is not worth telling, for not everyone is sufficiently intelligent to be able to see things from the right point of view.”  - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

“It is not the responsibility of knights errant to discover whether the afflicted, the enchained and the oppressed whom they encounter on the road are reduced to these circumstances and suffer this distress for their vices, or for their virtues: the knight’s sole responsibility is to succour them as people in need, having eyes only for their sufferings, not for their misdeeds.” ~- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

“All I know is that while I’m asleep, I’m never afraid, and I have no hopes, no struggles, no glories - and bless the man who invented sleep, a cloak over all human thought, food that drives away hunger, water that banishes thirst, fire that heats up cold, chill that moderates passion, and, finally, universal currency with which all things can be bought, weight and balance that brings the shepherd and the king, the fool and the wise, to the same level. There’s only one bad thing about sleep, as far as I’ve ever heard, and that is that it resembles death, since there’s very little difference between a sleeping man and a corpse”  ~- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de La Mancha

“… he who’s down one day can be up the next, unless he really wants to stay in bed, that is…”  - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Choose - and Create a Wonderful Valentines Day…. one that you and others will love.

Kirk Out

PS Last years T4D on this day was quite popular and filled with Fun Videos… click here to “Feel the Love from Last year”

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