Chasing Windmills

Hazard or Main

Do to a recent illness, I watched all three books of North and South again. It is pretty much a yearly ritual (watching it that is). Most people who know me and corrsepond with me know that I like to use the handle or username orry main or some variance thereof. But as I watch the series I try to figure out if I am more like Orry or George.
I guess I like Orry not only because he has a more unique name but also he is the southern gentleman. I try to think of myself in that light, but those days have long since passed. A man's word doesn't mean what it used to. Then a man's word was as good as a notarized contract, it was essentially a done deal once said. Loyalty was essential as water. You didn't just attach yourself to the highest bidder. Friendships stood the test time and the tribulations of war and differing ideologies. Manners were the order of the day. It wouldn't stick out in people's minds that you were courteous because it was expected of you and everyone did it. Women were not women, but ladies and they were treated as such. Nevertheless, it was still a society steeped in class and I wouldn't have been a planter's son. No, fate would have had me a dirt farmer's son.
While Orry has to grow and evolve, George always seems to know what the right thing is and does it. In that way, I am more like him. Akin to the dutiful son, sometimes too smart for my own good. That is the problem for us "good guys", we are to damn good, a slave to our own moral code. We want to be "bad boys" but we can't bring ourselves to be so. We have weighed all the consequences and repurcussions and we do so instinctively without even realizing we have done so. We try as hard as we can to prevent any possible injuries to others, even if it means foregoing our own happiness. Knowing the possible outcomes and who might be affected by such actions, we forbid ourselves from traveling that road and attaining that spontaneity that makes the bad boy so appealing.
Never before has my blog title seemed more appropriate. Chasing windmills is of course from Don Quixote. A man longing for a time that has long passes by and who is out of place in his own time. As Jimmy Buffet says, "yes I am a pirate. 200 years too late". This theme is echoed throughout literature. Maybe the reason is that our current time period leaves a lot to be desired.
Today, there is no undiscovered country to explore. There is no great cause to rally around. No way for a man to truly distinguish himself. Maybe that is because there are so many people in this world presently. No matter what you are, you're a dime a dozen and easily replaced in this assembly line society.
Well, that is enough incessant rambling for now.

posted by Michael @ 7:51 AM