My Dulcinea

For the record, I have never seen Man of La Mancha or read Don Quixote. My friend Ralph told me the story of Don Quixote and Dulcinea a few weeks ago. He is a great storyteller. While he was telling me the story I realized that there may be at least one person to whom I am Dulcinea, though, because I am Aldonza and not Dulcinea, because I am broken and can see only the broken parts of me, I do not know it.

You know, it's a God story.

In quoting Don Quixote, Ralph said, "Why, I just want to call you what you are. You are my lady, my Dulcinea."

What you are.

In school they tell you to be yourself. Not to give in to peer pressure. But everyone wants to be Cool. Sooner or later, though, people like me discover that they are not cool and they begin to live with it and they call it being who they are. But who I am is Dulcinea. I just don't see it. So in all this being who I am I have missed out on being who I really am. Does that make sense? Of course that doesn't make sense.

I am not as bad as I think I am. To someone, at least to One, I am Dulcinea. And it is not that He sees me as Dulcinea. It is not merely His perception of me. It is who I am.