Many years ago a line spoken by Don Quixote in the musical Man of La Mancha caught my attention. It filled me with awe. It inspired me. It still does. It makes me pause to consider such a powerful statement. Quixote said,

“I have lived nearly fifty years, and I have seen life as it is. Pain, misery, hunger … cruelty beyond belief. I have heard the singing from taverns and the moans from bundles of filth on the streets. I have been a soldier and seen my comrades fall in battle … or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I have held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing. No glory, no gallant last words … only their eyes filled with confusion, whimpering the question, “Why?”

I do not think they asked why they were dying, but why they had lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”

Yes, I think that’s madness. It’s madness to give up on dreams and to let go of what could be only because we don’t yet see it. We quit too soon. We become afraid it may not happen, so we stop trying. We settle for less. We accept less.

This year I choose to see life as it should be. I choose to believe that now and hold it before me, rather than despair over what life looks like at the moment. I invite you to join me.