My love for Don Quixote started when a dear friend of mine gave me the Man of La Mancha soundtrack back in high school. I had been given a record player with no records, so this was the first one I received. It was old, it was scratched, and it was beautiful. I listened to the whole thing while knitting in my room and crying. Yeah, I knit and played records when I was sixteen. Be jealous.
I've always seen myself a little more manly on the inside than maybe most girls (see previous entries) but God Almighty, I wanted to be the next Quixote. If you want to know why, just watch this.
If a nine minute clip from the 70s was too much for you, I'll explain. Don Quixote was a man who read so many books about being a hero, he decided to become one. He loses his mind a bit and claims to be a knight. During his journeys of fighting windmills and stealing shaving basins, he encounters a prostitute named Aldonza. She is the most beautiful woman he has ever laid eyes on, and he calls her my lady and swears to protect her. He refuses to call her Aldonza, as that name is beneath her, and dubs her Dulcinea. He sings,
Dulcinea...Dulcinea...
I see heaven when I see thee, Dulcinea,
And thy name is like a prayer
an angel whispers...
Dulcinea, Dulcinea!
I know musical theatre isn't for everyone, but stay with me. Throughout the story, we see this woman hates her life. She is abused and raped. She believes she is nothing and noone, and can't stand this crazy man coming in and telling her she's better than what she is because she knows it isn't true.
And yet, it changes her.
I heard this musical and decided I wanted to be a Don Quixote. I wanted to see the beauty and heroism in the world, even if it meant I was a little crazy. I wanted to show people what they were worth. I wanted to tell all the Aldonza's that they were really Dulcineas.
Then life came along and turned me into an Aldonza. I had never really identified with her before some experiences that happened. Experience that made me feel just as low and worthless and angry as she did. I wasn't an imaginary hero anymore. I was a very real damsel in distress.
But Don Quixote came along, in one form or another, and managed to convince me otherwise. I could go back to dreaming the impossible dream again, reaching the unreachable star.
We need more Don Quixote's and Dulcinea's out there. Men and women who believe in themselves, believe in the impossible, believe in each other. Be a hero for someone today. Be a heroine for yourself. You're not Aldonza anymore, or even the crazy guy that stayed in his house reading books. Go out fighting windmills and really live for a while. Let me know how it goes.
