The Quest

Ramsey Seikaly

Los Angeles -- In a town filled with dreams and the angst of failure one needs only to marvel at the folly of the many and the victory of the few who are transformed by sheer tenacity, true grit, and remarkable talent into another star in the nebula of tinsel town's diamond blustered vanity of solar clustered stars, with all the cash that you will never give away,  let alone use.  

Like the opium dens whose seductive mystic subtly draws you ever so deeper into their intrigue and rabid opulence.  Is it then no wonder so many sell their soul to the devil for a mere fraction of time in the lustful pleasures of unbridled decadence hurled into a sea of glutenous orgies.  And then you ask why then if the cards are stacked against you from the get go that you persist in this futile cause, this quest,  that will surely bring financial ruination and destitution.  

Because of a dream.  A dream created from the most precious commodity of human intellect and achievement.  A dream bred in the shoals of communal fellowship and the individual faith encountered through ones creativity.  Wrestled from the sinkhole of our fears and doubts only as surely as time passes us by, in the Bacchanal of our wildest fantasies hoping that maybe just maybe we too will make a difference.  At the least within ourselves and at the most within those whom we have had an encounter.  

Miguel Cervantes must have thought this as he awaited his fate at the notorious Inquisition of Spain, the outcome of which too heinous to render.  "The Man of La Mancha" is a testimony to man's inner desire to achieve regardless of the cost regardless of the outcome in his ongoing effort to contribute value to this short existence we call life.

As philosophical as this may seem and it is for the ring of truth stares back at you from between the nearly thousand pages of this monumental novel of fiction.  One can further dare say is an object lesson on coping when the possible is seemingly impossible and the impossible possible.  

It would take Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion the song writer and the lyricist to accomplish this feat of benevolent psychology in their 1965 Broadway musical and their 1972 feature starring Peter O'Toole as Don Quixote the MAN OF LA MANCHA.

According to Wikipedia..."the song is sung all the way through once in the musical by Don Quixote as he stands vigil over his armor, in response to Aldonza ( Dulcinea)'s question about what he means by "following the quest". It is reprised partially three more times—the last by prisoners in a dungeon as Miguel de Cervantes and his manservant mount the drawbridge-like prison staircase to face trial by the Spanish Inquisition."

I guess a man's dreams are the dreams that frame a man as to whom he is and what he hopes.  May your Quest be as glorious as Don Quixote--The Man of La Mancha.

So here then is the Impossible Dream with Peter O'Toole in the lead role and Sophia Loren as Aldonza (Dulcinea).

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