Sometimes a Windmill is Simply a Windmill
Often, when I take the Monster Behind the Door (MBD) for a walk on Main Street, it is like a comedic adventure. You see, our noble little character doesn’t just go berserker behind the door when the mail comes through the slot; our seventeen pound adventurer perceives danger in every garbage truck, jeep (and pickup) with loud-sounding off-road tires, delivery vehicles, and many other windmills! Our canine Don Quixote approaches the world with innocence, nobility, and honor, simultaneously suffering from delusions of grandeur. This also means that several times a day, MBD recruits me to be his Sancho, the devoted straight man following him on these Quixotian adventures and cleaning up the messes he leaves behind!
Pulling back to the ten-thousand-foot level, we can find many Don Quixotes in every segment of society. These intelligent (or not) adventurers perceive evil threats and conspiracies around every corner, in every election, news cycle, election, prejudice, election, misspoken word, election, protest, etc. They see windmills as giants to be slain, all the while thinking themselves innocent, noble, honorable, and wise. Even scarier, these knights-errant team up with other Quixotes to wreak havoc on the neighborhood. Me think the world needs more Sanchos to ride alongside them to bring love, perspective, and occasional mess cleanup.
But beware, for being called to be a Sancho is hard work requiring self-sacrifice, wisdom, insight, ethics, honor, honesty, and, most importantly, love. It also requires a bit of thick skin because Don Quixote may not like when you point out that sometimes a windmill is simply a windmill, for they often don’t like when you confuse their worldviews with facts.
Now that I think of it, being a Sancho sounds an awful lot like what it means to be a Christian, at least in how this sojourner reads it in the HitchHiker’s Guide to Faith. Lord, let me be a Sancho!
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