The impossible dream

BE writes:

First of all, Happy Fourth of July to you!

Recently, I was listening to Andy William’s version of “The Impossible Dream,” and I realized that the lyrics describe what you have been doing for so long. You have been dreaming the impossible dream, trying to right the unrightable wrong, fighting the unbeatable foe, on so many fronts. Yet now, due in no small part to the triumvirate of treason—Bush, McCain, and Kennedy—at least one part of that impossible dream—reassertion of our national identity, with concomitant reassertion of control over our borders—may just come true.

The fight is far from over. In some ways, it hasn’t even begun. But the groundwork for fighting—and winning—has been laid, and you have been an indispensable architect of that groundwork.

All too often, when I read VFR, I get depressed over what bad shape we’re in and how far we have to go to gain some semblance of normality. Still, I keep coming back, knowing that giving up is not an option, that failure is not an option. Your adherence to, and explication of, traditionalist principles sustains and inspires me, and, I’m sure, many others.

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 lie 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 his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

LA replies:

Thank you. That is an inspiring song which I have liked since I saw the original, thrilling, production of Man of La Mancha in New York City when I was a kid. And I think it’s just what we need. Because in the fight we’re in, the forces against us seem so overwhelming, the changes that have taken place in our culture are already so great, and what we’re seeking, the survival and restoration of our culture, seems, literally, impossible. So to take the kind of stands we take makes us seem crazy, irrational. But we have no choice but to keep striving. It’s life or death. As I always say, at any given moment we cannot see the positive forces that may be there, just under the surface, building up, but not yet ready to emerge into the light, and then they suddenly emerge into the light. Something like that is happening now with the national identity and immigration question.

And that’s the greatness of Don Quixote as well, which is also captured in Man of La Mancha. On one level, Don Quixote is simply nuts, out of touch with reality. On another level, he sees the truth that others don’t see. And by seeing it, he helps bring into being something that otherwise wouldn’t exist.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 05, 2007 10:58 AM | Send