What does windmills mean? Fight windmills

This expression was coined by the famous Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra (1547-1616) and used it in his popular novel " The cunning hidalgo Don Quixote Lamanche"

"Immediately before their eyes appeared either twenty or thirty windmills, which were located on a large field. And as soon as Don Quixote saw them, he said to his good friend:
- This is a very significant event that fate gave us. Look there, my squire Sancho Panza - there are twenty, if not more, terrible giants standing in the distance - I intend to challenge each of them to a duel and defeat them all. The trophies that we will get from the bodies of these monsters will become the basis of our well-being. This will be a just battle - to destroy this disgusting seed from the face of the earth, this feat will be pleasing to our Lord.

- And where did you find the terrible giants? - asked Sancho Panza.
“Yes, here they are, in front of us, waving their strong and big hands,” his master answered with all gravity. - Look carefully at their arms, Sancho; it seems to me that some of them are several miles long.
“Yes, what are you saying, dear sir,” his squire began to object with fervor, what you see in this field are not giants at all, but the most ordinary mills, and what seems to you to be their hands are their wings, which are under The millstones are driven by the wind.

“Now you can only see an inexperienced adventurer,” said Don Quixote, “when you look closely, you will see giants.” And if you are afraid, then give me the way and pray for me, and I alone will enter into a merciless battle with them.
With these words, and not paying any attention to the admonitions of his squire, who asked him to stop and not do anything stupid, since he was going to fight not with giants, but with the most ordinary windmills. Giving his spurs to his beloved horse Rocinante, he rushed towards the giants, in whom he believed unconditionally. Having arrived very close to them, and not seeing the mills in front of him, he began to exclaim loudly:
- Stop vile and dangerous monsters! You see that only one worthy knight attacked you.

At this very time, the previously weak breeze strengthened and turned into a gusty wind, and noticing that the large wind wings began to spin, Don Quixote said:
- Wave your hands! If you had much more of them than the giant Briareus, then even then I would not have retreated from the glorious battle!

Having exclaimed these words, he immediately asked for the protection of his mistress Dulcinea, asked to help him withstand such severe trials and, raising his shield, threw his horse into a gallop, flying up to the mill enough for a spear, he stuck it in the wing of the mill closest to him, but in this Just about time a very strong wind blew, and the wing jerked with such force that only splinters remained from the spear, and the wing, having caught both the rider and the horse, who found themselves in a very comical position, after a while threw them to the ground.

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“Shut up, Sancho,” said Don Quixote. - I would like to note that military circumstances tend to change quickly. In addition, I believe, and not without reason, that the smart Freston, the man who stole the premises along with the books from me, was able to turn my giants into windmills in order to take away my victory - he hates me fiercely. But sooner or later his evil magic will not resist the power of my knight's blade."

What is the government doing to protect people?

It is imperative to install a fence wherever possible, because suicidal pedestrians strive to throw themselves in front of a car!

This ingenious solution appeared not so long ago in GOST R 52289-2004, then fences should have appeared along almost all streets. But this year it was adjusted, leaving fences only near children's institutions and on streets with a large flow of people (1000 or more people per hour per sidewalk lane). Well, okay, at least the insanity has weakened (you can read more). However, when the project was discussed at the Butyrsky district administration, it turned out that the traffic police vehemently advocated the installation of fences, naturally for the safety of the pedestrians themselves. That is, even changes to GOST, which was written by specialists from the research institute, are not a decree, by the way.

Well, okay, what else is being done there for safety?

Installation of signal lights:

More lights and poisonous signs to make the transition look like a Christmas tree!

But that’s not all, recently the traffic police proposed installing signs 60m before crossings:

You can find many more similar measures/statements, for example, one idea of ​​​​painting transitions in bright colors is worth it:

And now I propose to abstract for a moment from all these innovative solutions and think about why people are dying in our country?
Personally, I see only one reason for this - drivers simply do not see pedestrians. But they don’t see them due to two factors: in the dark, it’s simply difficult to distinguish a person from afar (because it’s dark), and there’s no lighting; the driver does not have time to react due to high speed.
Of course, there are sheep who simply don’t let people through because he’s such a cool guy driving a car, but it seems to me that such people are in the minority and their rights simply need to be taken away.

The first reason is quite simple to deal with - you need to install lights above the zebras. And even the state seems to have reached this simple idea. organs For example, this crossing on the Boulevard Ring is, among other things, equipped with lights:

And the Novosibirsk-Tomsk highway:

Solving the second question is also not a major task; you just need to make the driver drive slower. This can be done in two ways: lower the speed limit and/or put some kind of obstacle (that is, an administrative or physical solution). But instead, for some reason, we are increasing the speed limit in cities. I think you understand that I am talking about the initiative of Deputy Lysakov, when last year the permissible speed increased by another 10 km/h, and now in a residential area in Russia you can drive at a speed of 80 km/h. This is despite the fact that throughout the world the speed limit in cities is 50 or even 30 km/h. Many scientific studies have been carried out which have shown that at this speed, a fatal outcome for a pedestrian is less likely:

But for some reason, neither the valiant traffic police officers nor any other authorities are trying to reduce the permitted speed in cities. Naturally, people continue to die because drivers do not have time to react.

Traffic calming is also not particularly practiced in our country. At best, speed bumps are installed in front of schools or in places where people constantly die. Getting a traffic light installed is generally a fantasy task, because they slow down the flow! Indeed, even if people die better on such crossings, the average speed will be higher:

It is precisely because of a misunderstanding of the relationship between the speed of a car and a person’s life that we have various kinds of flashing lights at traffic lights, terrible poisonous signs, and so on - this is done so that the driver at high speed will pay attention to the zebra. I wouldn’t be surprised if they soon propose making the pedestrian crossing signs themselves two or three times larger, because “drivers don’t recognize this sign at speed.” Or they will ban surface crossings altogether and they will rivet under/overground passages everywhere in order to humiliate and destroy pedestrians as a class of citizens.

The traffic police are especially pleased in this situation. In general, maybe I’m wrong, but in normal countries the traffic police are not responsible for installing traffic lights/artificial humps/fences along the roads, because their function is to monitor compliance with the law, and specialists at the mayor’s office are responsible for the infrastructure. And this is correct, because a police officer must have a legal education, which has absolutely nothing to do with road safety, but not with us. This is probably why the police offer to deal with obvious things in idiotic ways - they make such conclusions based on their life experience, and not on scientific calculations.

In general, if the situation does not change radically, then I am more than sure that:
1) all sorts of “brilliant” solutions to the problem will continue to appear;
2) people will still die on crossings.

PS I didn’t dwell on calming the movement, because I want to write a separate post about this soon.
P.S.S. You can read more about the negative consequences of increasing the speed limit

Fighting windmills: what is hidden in this phraseological turn? Involuntarily, everyone uttered this expression at least once. It can be addressed to oneself, as well as to another person. The most important thing is that, in principle, no one is offended by such a statement. It's interesting to figure out what this is connected with.

Naive knight in armor

If anyone has not yet read the novel by the Spanish writer M. Cervantes, we advise you to do so as soon as possible. The work is called "The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha." The novel was written a long time ago, but even today it does not lose its relevance.

It's all about the main character. Tall, awkward and thin Don Quixote is a comic image. But due to his character, he became so beloved by the reader that no one wants or dares to laugh at him. Don Quixote is a romantic and sincere person. He so sacredly believed the stories about valiant knights described by poets that he decided to become one himself.

The hero is written by the author quite comically. Don Quixote is no longer young, and is not very healthy in body. Tall, thin, elongated face with a long nose and funny mustache. And most likely, some changes occurred in his brain that led to a passion for vagrancy. And his horse, Rossinante, was also skinny and comical. Funny armor completed the look.

His servant, Sancho Panzo, is the opposite of the main character, starting with his appearance and ending with his ability to soberly evaluate things and call them by their proper names. But fate brings them together. This happens often in life, doesn’t it?

Real knights, according to the hero, certainly had to perform valiant deeds in the name of a beautiful lady, and they should also be helped in everything by faithful squires. The knight intended to glorify the beauty of his chosen one and tell the world about his exploits in the name of love. Don Quixote chose his favorite - Dulcinea Toboso. By the way, his chosen one was not at all so beautiful that he would sacrifice anything for her. But our knight was blind and deaf, in his imagination Dulcinea was the most beautiful woman on Earth.

What is the point of fighting windmills?

In Don Quixote's fevered imagination, mills are huge monsters that somehow threaten humanity. It is clear that Don Quixote is not entirely adequate. But he dedicates his exploits to the lady of his heart. In the novel, fighting windmills is of particular importance to the hero. This stunning nobility combined with naivety is disarming.

Sincerity always softens people's hearts. This was true before and remains true now. Don Quixote raced furiously on his skinny horse and attacked monsters - “dragons”, pierced them with a spear, trying to kill them. He was, in fact, a laughing stock for those around him.

This is how the meaning and meaning of the expression became obvious to readers of the novel. “Fighting windmills” as an independent phrase went around the world, no longer depending on M. Cervantes.

It means a waste of energy to perform an action that no one needs. A senseless search for the impossible. Empty faith in unworthy people. Or you can put it this way: stupid behavior that does not lead to results.

Knights among us

Why is the hero of the novel so popular among the people? Everything is simple here. Don Quixote did not want to put up with everyday life and routine. His eyes were able to ignore dirt, vulgarity and greed. The soul strived for high flight. Even in his time, he surprised those around him with these qualities.

Upon deep reflection, you begin to understand the power of the phrase "fighting at windmills", the meaning of which is reversed.

Nowadays you won’t find nobility at every step. But they are without fear and reproach." Such people attach special importance to "fighting windmills": they do not want to put up with injustice in society or violence. Fighters for truth, they hold protests, attract public attention, sacrifice themselves in the name of high (often unattainable) goal. Volunteers, animal rights activists, members of conservation societies - they all fight "dragons" and no one laughs at them.

Thanks to Don Quixote

I would like to rejoice that the image of the “knight of the sad image” will forever live in people’s memory. He is kind and open, sincere, and such valuable qualities are concentrated in him that the hero himself and his actions cause little laughter.

The fight against windmills will always continue. Otherwise, the world will become boring, gray and ordinary. People will become poor in spirit and forget high goals, lose the main values ​​of the human soul. The world will become mired in philistinism, profit, self-interest and idleness. “The madness of the brave” has always fascinated and will continue to fascinate. And writers and poets will begin to draw inspiration from the most (at first glance, meaningless) feats!

“Then their eyes saw either thirty or forty windmills standing in the middle of a field, and as soon as Don Quixote saw them, he turned to his squire with these words:
“Fate guides us in the best possible way.” Look, friend Sancho Panza: over there you can see thirty, if not more, monstrous giants - I intend to engage them in battle and kill them all, and the trophies that we get will be the basis of our well-being. This is a just war: to wipe out the bad seed from the face of the earth means to serve God faithfully.
-Where do you see giants? - asked Sancho Panza.
“Yes, there they are, with huge hands,” answered his master. “Some of them have arms that are almost two miles long.”
“For goodness sake, senor,” Sancho objected, “what you see there are not giants at all, but windmills; what you take for their hands are wings: they whirl in the wind and set the millstones in motion.
“Now you can see an inexperienced adventurer,” noted Don Quixote, “these are giants.” And if you are afraid, then move aside and pray, and in the meantime I will enter into a cruel and unequal battle with them.
With the last word, not heeding the voice of Sancho, who warned him that he was not going to fight giants, but, without a doubt, windmills, Don Quixote gave Rocinante spurs. He was absolutely sure that these were giants, and therefore, not paying attention to the cries of the squire and not seeing what was in front of him, although he was very close to the mills, he loudly exclaimed:
- Stop, cowardly and vile creatures! After all, only one knight is attacking you.
At this time, a light breeze blew, and, noticing that the huge wings of the mills were beginning to spin, Don Quixote exclaimed:
- Wave, wave your hands! If only you had more of them than the giant Briareus, and then you would have to pay!
Having said this, he completely surrendered under the protection of his mistress Dulcinea, turned to her with a prayer to help him withstand such a difficult test and, shielding himself with a shield and sending Rocinante into a gallop, stabbed his spear into the wing of the nearest mill; but at that time the wind turned the wing with such furious force that only chips remained from the spear, and the wing, picking up both horse and rider, who found themselves in a very pitiful position, threw Don Quixote to the ground. Sancho Panza galloped to his aid at the full pace of a donkey and, approaching, made sure that his master could not move - he had fallen so hard from Rocinante.
- Oh, my God! - exclaimed Sancho. “Didn’t I tell your worship to be careful, that these are just windmills?” No one would confuse them, except someone who has windmills spinning in his head.
“Be quiet, friend Sancho,” said Don Quixote. — It should be noted that there is nothing more changeable than military circumstances. Moreover, I believe, and not without reason, that the wise Freston, the same one who stole my books along with the premises, turned the giants into windmills in order to deprive me of the fruits of victory - he hates me so much. But sooner or later his evil spells will not withstand the power of my sword."