Monday, June 4, 2007

The thing about Don Quixote, Part II


Dr. Faust.
Beowulf.
Don Quixote.
John Muir.
Tamburlaine.
Arturo Bandini.
Howard Hughes.
Ender Wiggin.
King Arthur.
George Lucas.
Tolkein.
Shakespeare.
Link.

I have a fascination with classic-style male heroes,
who believe in greatness, who put the normal and accepted to question,
who refuse to be finished, who are in love, with something big.
The World is missing something which they believe they can provide.
Fame, honour, belief, love, creation, balance, awareness,
new thoughts, new actions,
and new eras come with them
bringing newer, more sustainable,
more honourable, more realistic
and beautiful and cleaner and happier ways of living.
Some people thing it's a "young" thing, to believe in greatness;
"you're still young."
It's not.
This disposition is timeless, ageless, humanistic,
and we all already believe in it.

Maybe it's raising a family,
maybe it's being on a stage.
Then maybe it's teaching a classroom,
helping patrons,
cutting folders,
making poems,
counting tips,
reading books,
inventing codes,
splicing film,
delivering pizzas.
Maybe it's writing, or singing your thoughts in silence.
Maybe it's the clarity of a sunrise in the morning when the world is out.
Maybe it's a massive growing family, worth fighting and dying for.
This is greatness, youthless greatness - to which we all subscribe.
Tried and true, it's your honour.

5 comments:

heather said...

mikie you are a surefire pisces - the dreamer - orion is too. did you know that you two share a sign? i think he will be a dreamy poet. anyway it reminds me of how we all drove up to portland and pretended we were in lord of the rings. we must never "grow up!"

Mikie Beatty said...

fine. I'll comment on my don quixote blogs.
Hey mikie, I loved what you had to say about this! I too imagine a life bound by glory and truth. Tell me more about these interesting classical influences in your life, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say, we'd all love to talk hours into the night about classical themes.

Susan said...

Mikie, I love the hero story too. You would be really interested in Joseph Campbell and his take on mythology, alot of the characters you love are derived from myths and legends. Paul Bunyan, Huh,huh?Anyway, you are way beyond me when it comes to philosophy. Very scholarly! Check out Joseph Campbell at the library...your library mom

Susan said...

Oh, you forgot Gilgamesh, read the Epic of Gilgamesh, how about Noah, or Utnapishtim, the Mesopotamian Noah. They are hero figures. Many unexpected hero-quest searching-save the innocent maiden archetypes are out here even today in the world...

Susan said...

My favorite is definitely King Arthur!!!