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| Billy's Mountain Picture Book |
Impossible Dreams Publishing Co., was inspired by the works of Miguel Cervantes's novel Don Quixote de La Mancha (recently
voted the greatest book ever written) and his quest to reach for the impossible dream and right all wrongs.
Perhaps no group of statesmen enjoyed Don Quixote more than the Founding Fathers of the United States. It was a favorite
of Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Adams (who traveled with the book in his saddlebags), and Thomas Jefferson who kept several
different copies of the book in many different languages in his library at his home in Monticello, VA.
Jefferson often quoted Don Quixote in letters to colleagues and friends and during political debates. His writing of the
Declaration of Independence along with his other impacts on our current "Jeffersonian" democracy are proof that
"Quixotic" idealism, which is often made fun of, can profoundly impact the world for the better, taking once thought
absurd, unreachable ideas and turning them into a reality so normal they become a regular part of every day life. As Don Quixote
said "I come in a world of Iron to make a world of Gold."
"Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but
rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible." - Cherie Carter-Scott
Our country was founded on "Quixotic" idealism and, perhaps, that is why we were the first to reach the moon
and put spacecraft beyond our solar system. We literally did dream the impossible dream and reach the unreachable!
So, if you haven't attempted to tilt a few windmills, then you don't know what you are missing, or more importantly, what
the world might be missing!
Impossible Dreams Publishing Co. will strive to promote books and ideas that have "quixotic" idealism or metaphorical
meaning. Books that are meant to inspire and encourage readers to reach beyond what is thought to be possible and into the
realm of the impossible.
Steve Richardson
| Click on image to go to Scott Gustafson's website |
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| SCOTT GUSTAFSON - DON QUIXOTE |
Making People Brand-New
by Jim Burns
One of my favorite musicals is Man of La Mancha. In this story you meet a loony Spanish gentleman, Don Quixote, who thinks
he is an honored knight, when in fact he is nothing of the sort. In this musical Don Quixote meets a lowly prostitute, Aldonza.
He doesn't know she is a prostitute; he thinks she is an elegant Spanish lady, a queen. Yet Don Quixote slowly changes the
entire self-concept of this prostitute by constantly, unconditionally affirming her. What is amazing about the story is, when
she begins to see herself differently, she begins to act differently. He even gives her a new name, Dulcinea, so that she
will ever be reminded of her new identity and her potential. She became a brand-new person.
Who is the Aldonza in your life? Who can you offer positive encouragement to? Who can you offer a belief in even when
they don't believe in themselves? In order to affirm a person's potential, you may have to look at them with the eye of faith
and treat them in terms of their potential, not their behavior.
Goethe, a famous philosopher once put this way:
"Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is, treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he
can and should be."
Again I ask, who is the Aldonza in your life who can become a Dulcinea? Today is the day to believe in them and give them
the gift of affirmation.
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| Phtoto by Steve Richardson |
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