Trail of Crumbs: defining passions

To what are you devoted? Towards what do you make quixotic efforts?

I recently picked up the bound and dusty copy of my college thesis off the top of our bookshelf in efforts to recall the essence of the word “quixotic.” Once upon a time, in the surreal promised land called Baylor, I scribbled and searched, read and conversed, and after months of grand efforts eventually came up with a thesis on Don Quixote/the artistry of becoming/man’s search for meaning/Holy Folly. Yes, in my mind, my thesis taught me all of these things…yet now I feel as if all I am left with is a convicting attachment to the adjective “quixotic.”

Let me explain. Don Quixote, a simple farmer, adopted a passion so strange to his culture (chivalry, knighthood) that he transformed himself into something of a mad man. But extraordinary adherence to just any passion does not necessarily merit one the honor implied in true zeal or Holly Folly. The madness must be indicative of obedience to a higher truth, a manifestation of pure motive, and a willingness to sacrifice quotidian comforts. This devotion helps to explain why Don Quixote does not tire in his knight errantry: believing in his identity as a knight, Alonso Quixano (Don Quixote’s name prior to his transformation) views it completely rational to abandon his mundane life and pursue grander ideals. After all, grander ideals demand such sacrifice from us, do they not?

When confronted with this question of devotion within the first five minutes of church today, I had to wonder to myself: to what are you so whole heartedly devoted that others might view it as your passion? God? husBen? School? I suppose we could all stand to make more of an effort to live outwardly what we view ourselves to prioritize inwardly (or at least I could).

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The grand trek to The Burger Guys

On a lighter note, our last quixotic effort in the food realm was a 30 minute drive out to the suburbs for what was touted as the best burger around these parts. Oh. My. It was the best burger around these parts!! I can only begin by saying that the menu offered one $35 burger, complete with onion bacon jam, gastrique, foie gras, and toasted garlic aioli and another burger offered on two Shipley’s donuts as the buns. Below were our picks. Queue the mouth watering.