the airport tower

Sunday headlines read:

Takeover of NAIA air traffic control tower, 'an isolated act,' says Bunye

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The last eve of the full moon came to Don Quixote at the most unglamorous and violent hour.

Who would have thought that, without seeing the dawn, he would gasp his last within the confines of the windmill he himself engineered?

I disagree with Plato when he writes that philosophers ought to be kings. For humanity's sake, we should rather have scientists.

Now Don Quixote was a very brilliant inventor and one of his makings was improved technology in running the tower for flying men. Even the former king who lit cigars attested to that.

But when his brilliance got the best of him, and he barricaded himself inside the tower, the Queen's special squad forced entry in his windmill; they took him down like a mad dog. His brains splattered all over the bullet-ridden walls and floor.

Arnold, confessor of dead men walking, and probably the last influential media scooper he talked to, couldn't stop the brutal engagement.

Don Quixote was a good man. He loved his bastardized and corrupted Dulcinea country so much that he even drew the blueprint of a flying one-seater machine, his own Rocinante.

But we know what they say about genius people. There's a thin line between that and insanity.

Months ago, before the seige of the windmill, his own family might had simply watched him cross that line. They thought it was nothing serious.

And what can we say about his loyal Sancho Panza? He's a misplaced squire who accompanied him to his violent end. The infantry, after all, is trained hard to be loyal to their commanders.

Sancho Panza, who took more than one woman as his wife, was aware that Don Quixote had illucid intervals; and he realized that part of his mission is to protect the Don from harming himself. Don Quixote was more than his superior. He was like a father to him, who took care of his needs and gave him advises.

Time ran out for Don Quixote that early Sunday morning.

In the aftermath, to honor him, the Queen draped the flag over his metal coffin.

In this version, I ask Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, "Who is redeemed by Don Quixote's madness?"

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kids should know that...

The world of ordinary people, from sheepherders to tavern-owners and inn-keepers, that figures in Don Quixote was groundbreaking. The character Don Quixote became so well-known in its time that the word quixotic was quickly calqued into many languages. Characters such as Sancho Panza and Don Quixote’s steed, Rocinante, are emblems of Western literary culture. The phrase "tilting at windmills" to describe an act of futility similarly derives from an iconic scene in the book. (wikipedia)