The Impossible Dream
I suppose I'll include a segment of my spiritual learning that I sent to the mission president this week. Perhaps you'll just say you already knew this, but that just means that you've been blessed!
"Now, on to success...
If you are familiar with the story of Don Quixote, which you have to be, it's about an old man who gets so caught up in the ideas of chivalry in the stories he reads that he decides to live it, to become a knight, to find enemies to fight against and to raise the standard of honor. But the fact of the matter is he's a little crazy from how old he is, and to the people around him, he is downright disturbed.
But I've always looked at that and considered the fact that we must look like that sometimes. We say to be good when the world says there is no such thing. We say to love purely, when the world thinks that's only in fantasy books. We say to follow God, and the world calls it blindness, and ignorant obedience, and even being brainwashed!
Is there not a parallel?
Though I would not say that I know very much about this fictitious character, nor that I wish to become exactly like him, I do admire him.
In the musical rendition of the story, titled the Man of La Mancha, if I'm not mistaken, there is a song, that says:
'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!
And I know, if I'll only be true to this glorious quest,
that my heart will be peaceful and calm when I'm laid to my rest.
And the world will be better for this:
that one man, scorned, and covered with scars,
still strove, with the last ounce of courage,
to reach the unreachable star!'
And I realized that what he said is profound, that if he is only true to his quest, his heart will have peace at the end.
He can't possibly achieve it! It says the star is unreachable for a reason! Yet he will feel peace for having tried his whole life for something so noble.
Success is not in the achieving of goals! It's in the setting of CORRECT, HONORABLE, and IMPORTANT goals, and then striving, ceaselessly to achieve them WHETHER OR NOT YOU ULTIMATELY DO, or even can! How could I have been so blind to this? I am successful if I set the right goals, and try my hardest.
Then bring it to a more spiritual perspective:
'I'm trying to be like Jesus.
I'm following in his ways.
I'm trying to love, as he did,
In all that I do, and say.
At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice,
but the Holy Spirit, in a still small voice, whispers:
love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
for these are, the things Jesus taught.'
It would be impossible to be like Jesus, to be perfect, so I got scared away from trying.
But I am a success just by setting the goal, just by trying to be like Jesus.
So I will read tons of books about Him! And as I do, I will go on the impossible quest to become like him.
The world will laugh me to scorn, think I'm crazy, or not actually true. In their eyes I will be some poor young man with a mental illness.
But my heart will have peace if I am only true to that quest. And the world will be better for it whether or not I ever achieve anything!
My father always tells me: I only ever hoped that you would be a good person. I didn't care if you were smart or strong or attractive. I just wanted you to be a good person.
I have only ever wanted to do what's right. I've just been bad at it sometimes, or a lot of the times. But that is my quest, so I already am a success if I continue to strive."
I'm sorry I don't have much to write today...and that I still haven't finished that poem.
But I hope you can gain something from what I've found out.
Oh, and happy belated birthday, Papa! I totally remembered the moment I closed out of the email last week, but of course, it was too late.
Sorry about that!
From,
Elder Streeter
"Now, on to success...
If you are familiar with the story of Don Quixote, which you have to be, it's about an old man who gets so caught up in the ideas of chivalry in the stories he reads that he decides to live it, to become a knight, to find enemies to fight against and to raise the standard of honor. But the fact of the matter is he's a little crazy from how old he is, and to the people around him, he is downright disturbed.
But I've always looked at that and considered the fact that we must look like that sometimes. We say to be good when the world says there is no such thing. We say to love purely, when the world thinks that's only in fantasy books. We say to follow God, and the world calls it blindness, and ignorant obedience, and even being brainwashed!
Is there not a parallel?
Though I would not say that I know very much about this fictitious character, nor that I wish to become exactly like him, I do admire him.
In the musical rendition of the story, titled the Man of La Mancha, if I'm not mistaken, there is a song, that says:
'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!
And I know, if I'll only be true to this glorious quest,
that my heart will be peaceful and calm when I'm laid to my rest.
And the world will be better for this:
that one man, scorned, and covered with scars,
still strove, with the last ounce of courage,
to reach the unreachable star!'
And I realized that what he said is profound, that if he is only true to his quest, his heart will have peace at the end.
He can't possibly achieve it! It says the star is unreachable for a reason! Yet he will feel peace for having tried his whole life for something so noble.
Success is not in the achieving of goals! It's in the setting of CORRECT, HONORABLE, and IMPORTANT goals, and then striving, ceaselessly to achieve them WHETHER OR NOT YOU ULTIMATELY DO, or even can! How could I have been so blind to this? I am successful if I set the right goals, and try my hardest.
Then bring it to a more spiritual perspective:
'I'm trying to be like Jesus.
I'm following in his ways.
I'm trying to love, as he did,
In all that I do, and say.
At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice,
but the Holy Spirit, in a still small voice, whispers:
love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
for these are, the things Jesus taught.'
It would be impossible to be like Jesus, to be perfect, so I got scared away from trying.
But I am a success just by setting the goal, just by trying to be like Jesus.
So I will read tons of books about Him! And as I do, I will go on the impossible quest to become like him.
The world will laugh me to scorn, think I'm crazy, or not actually true. In their eyes I will be some poor young man with a mental illness.
But my heart will have peace if I am only true to that quest. And the world will be better for it whether or not I ever achieve anything!
My father always tells me: I only ever hoped that you would be a good person. I didn't care if you were smart or strong or attractive. I just wanted you to be a good person.
I have only ever wanted to do what's right. I've just been bad at it sometimes, or a lot of the times. But that is my quest, so I already am a success if I continue to strive."
I'm sorry I don't have much to write today...and that I still haven't finished that poem.
But I hope you can gain something from what I've found out.
Oh, and happy belated birthday, Papa! I totally remembered the moment I closed out of the email last week, but of course, it was too late.
Sorry about that!
From,
Elder Streeter
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