As I read Don Quixote for a class at IUPUI, I was struck by the song about Quixote and his quest from Man of La Mancha. As a child of the ‘70s, my mother would listen to elevator music as we cleaned the house. “The Impossible Dream” played most every Saturday and I always liked that song. I don’t know why I liked the song so much, but having finally read the book after singing the song and actually seeing the play at the American Cabaret Theatre many years ago, the song makes total sense to me. Below is a portion of the song:
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause
“The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha (1972) Music by Mitch Leigh and Lyrics by Joe Darion
I think I might be a little like Don Quixote. I want to experience life as though it were a quest – one adventure after another. But, I want life to be good and free from sorrow and anger and everything else that goes with the bad side of life. It would be great to go into life seeing only what you wanted to see. But, I know I can’t have only the perfect and good side because if I only experienced the good, how would I know what good really is?
Don Quixote took adventures and was beaten up along the way. He kept on with his quest “no matter how hopeless; no matter how far.” How is your life like that of Don Quixote?
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