Tilting at Windmills

Have you ever heard this phrase before? Perhaps, you have. Perhaps, you have not. Let me explain.

It means fiercely attacking an imaginary enemy. The attack is real. The aggression is fierce. The resources committed are precious. The exhaustion is genuine.

Then what is the problem? Only one. The enemy does not exist.

He exists only in the mind of the attacker. But when the attacker holds power, his imagination can become everyone else’s assignment. The entire system is mobilised. Precious attention, energy and resources are channelled towards fighting a threat that nobody has stopped to verify.

And at the end of this fierce battle, after scarce resources have been spent and the system driven into overdrive, what has actually been gained? Your guess is right !

The origin of the phrase has an interesting story.

In Miguel de Cervantes’ classic novel Don Quixote, a man so captivated by tales of chivalry sets out to become a knight, right wrongs and perform heroic deeds.

One day, travelling with his companion, Sancho Panza, he spots a group of windmills. But he sees something altogether different: monstrous giants with enormous arms, waiting to be defeated.

Sancho tries to explain that these are simply windmills. Those supposed arms are sails turning in the wind.

But Don Quixote is unmoved. Convinced of his interpretation, he charges at them with his lance. A turning sail catches the lance, throwing horse and rider to the ground.

Even then, he does not reconsider his judgment. Instead, he claims that an enchanter has transformed the giants into windmills to rob him of his victory!

The explanation changes. The conviction survives.

That is what makes this story more than an amusing tale about a misguided knight. It reveals how fiercely we can defend a belief, even after reality has knocked us off our horse.

The tragedy is not merely that a leader mistakes windmills for giants. It is that everyone else must pay for the charge.

At workplaces, in Society, in your social groups, in friend circles and elsewhere. You must have experienced this. Leaders tilting at windmills ...