Know Jack #523 The Mad Knight

“It is not the responsibility of knights errant to discover whether the afflicted, the enchained and the oppressed whom they encounter on the road are reduced to these circumstances and suffer this distress for their vices, or for their virtues: the knight's sole responsibility is to succour them as people in need, having eyes only for their sufferings, not for their misdeeds.”

Miguel Cervantes.

Don Quixote is an interesting character. He is amiable, a well-reasoned conversationalist, until the talk turns to chivalry and its associated virtues. When that happens, he is seized by a madness which blinds him to “modern reality”. He can see nothing but the virtue lost in a world that has outgrown such notions as loyalty, duty, truth, and service to others.

There has been plenty of speculation about how much good could be done by seizing Musk’s trillion dollars and redistributing it. To be sure, there is no end to the good that could be done with someone else’s money. Rather than campaigning and scheming about how to lay hands on dollars we don’t possess, what if we grew concerned about those we do?

No one is capable of meeting every need they see, even when they are not afraid to look. Right and Reason dictate that every man ought to do what he can to relieve suffering. For far too many people any effort toward that duty begins and ends with a wallet when a heart is called for. Compassion and mercy for those who can do nothing for us in return cost more than money and pay greater dividends.

Caring, true caring, will cost you. It will take a piece of your heart, it will take your time, and it will demand more than you are, at first, willing to give. Serving others has its own rewards. Those rewards do not await in a far-off heaven; they are paid in this life. If we dare to be thought mad, we open the door to blessings the “sane” know nothing about.