Daniel, Don Quixote, and Doug

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We hear a lot about people with guts lately. Sometimes it's about theorizing, sometimes it's about true grit under fire, and sometimes it's about standing your ground. Among my heroes include a series of literary figures who did what they thought was right to make the world a better place despite fierce opposition from the organization. In fact, it seems that most heirarchies venerate the status quo over the way things out to be, and if you disagree, well, sometimes they throw you to the lions.

That's exactly what happened to Daniel. Despite being the king's most trusted confidant, and despite what I can only assume Darius knew about his religious worship, continued to worship according to the dictates of his own conscience. According to the Biblical account of the same name, Daniel's punishment worried Darius, who was pleasantly relieved to discover his friend safe. He stood on and for principle, even though he wasn't going to be rewarded by man for his stand.

Similarly, the Cervantes character Don Quixote awoke one morning and went out questing. When Dulcinera questions the sanity of his quest, pointing out specifically that he cannot win, Don Quixote points out that it's not about winning- it's about doing what ought to be done. Of course, when you go out to tilt at windmills, you need to be ready to be unhorsed periodically, but in the end, he won the hearts of the woman he rescued and his faithful Sancho Panza.

Courage in principles means standing for something. It might mean standing for something even though it will hurt you or standing for something even though man isn't going to like it. I am frequently a thorn in the side of people who favor those who brown nose them and validate their worth and ideals. Years ago, I decided to follow the opinion of Captain Picard and be damned for what I really was. If it's a Catch-22, then at least I was true to myself. More often than not, I have nothing to gain from standing by my principles except that I believe they are correct. Whose principles am I supposed to live? Whose ideas am I supposed to express? They are valuable to me, and I will not sell them for money, or fame, or vocational opportunities. That's the major reason why everyone on the planet who truly dislikes me does so, because I stood in their way and had nothing to gain.

People frequently ask why anyone would get involved in a fight for something that brings no rewards, especially if they don't think the fight can be won. I think any fight can be won. Sometimes you need a Princeton or a Trenton to make headway, but I don't subscribe to surrender until there is no other option. At the end of the day, I have to live with myself, and I feel that abandoning your principles is akin to abandoning yourself, that if I do not support my own principles, even if I'm not directly involved or benefitted, I in essence betray myself. It's ok to be your own best friend and fan.

The world will be better for the battered and bruised man who strives with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable star. Even if you aim for the stars and land on the moon, they say, you have still gone higher than most denizens of the earth ever dreamed. Also, as GK Chesterton was wont to lament, what's wrong with the world is that we do not ask what is right. We are more concerned with what is than with what ought to be. That's not my modus opperandi, and that's why Daniel, Don Quixote, Thomas More, and scores of other people have earned a place in my heart. Whether they won, they fought the good fight, finished their course, and kept their faith. Be true. That's the rarest and most valuable commodity of which I am aware in the universe.