Truth or Consequences: An Abrupt End

(This post was written late yesterday afternoon, but because of some difficulties with the Internet I was unable to post.  So, this post is a day old, but as you read you will realize why there isn't much to report on today anyway)

For those of you who have been paying close attention you will know that I have dutifully posted every day of this trip, which by now totals to nearly 50 days.  And for those of you who have been reading the blog every day you will know that I did not post yesterday.

Yesterday we made our way from Mountainair to Magdalena, New Mexico.  The elevation changes were drastic, starting from 6600 feet, down to 4600 feet, and back up to 6600 feet.  What makes those changes serious is that it all happened at once: the 2000 foot drop seemed to last a short time, and the 2000 foot climb seemed to last a short time.  But, somewhere in the middle, we ran into a major hiccup.

Thomas took a dirt road on his mountain bike, Lycurgus, because we all know how much I hate dirt roads.  Unfortunately, the car had no access to the road.  In the past this has been no problem, but this time around it became a serious problem because the bike got a flat and Thomas didn’t have any patches with him.  Since I didn’t have access to where he was in the car, Thomas had to walk a good bit of the trail in the sun with little water.  Unfortunately that is not a good combination.  We had to make a late night trip to the hospital because Thomas was seriously dehydrated and probably suffering from heat stroke, the two of which put together meant that he couldn’t keep anything in his stomach.

Mr. Sick has been recovering well all day and the doctors are pretty sure that he will be released tomorrow.  There is nothing to be terribly worried about, thank God.  Though he was really sick when we brought him in to the hospital, we knew he’d be fine once he started getting some liquids and sugar into his body with rest. 

The major question now is, where do we go from here?  First of all, we are clearly not in Truth or Consequences tonight but still in Magdalena.  Even if Thomas is released on time tomorrow the doctors say we should take the first day of travel really lightly, which means that we’d be two days behind.  By the time we caught up to our schedule, we’d only have three days of riding left.  I don’t see what the point in continuing after this episode would be to only ride three more days, especially considering I don’t think I can mentally get back on the bike.  I’ve switched from biking mode to survival and caring mode, something I won’t easily be able to switch out of knowing that Thomas would be alone in the car following me and still recovering.  Thomas certainly isn’t biking again any time soon so we wouldn’t be able to bike, and I see no point in driving 70 miles a day just so that we can say we finished. 

Thomas, I know, is not going to be happy with my decision.  He will want to continue no matter what.  I think that most of his stubbornness will be borne from a sense that he has let me down.  Surely, this is all very disappointing and upsetting, but things happen.  As far as I’m concerned, getting upset about things going wrong is rather silly.  Anyone who uses a GPS while driving will know that if you miss a turn or take a wrong turn, the recalculation very rarely will want you to turn around; the GPS will just tell you to make some other turn.  To the point that we are able we should live life this way too: take things as they come and remain steady looking forward making the best possible decision from there.  Don’t worry about what you could have or should have done differently, just figure out the best course of action for where you now find yourself. 

Easier said than done, you might say.  Nonsense.  When you find yourself in a serious situation like we were last night, you come to see that looking forward is really your only option.  Now, looking forward, the best thing for us to do from here is to go home.  “Finishing” the “task” was never my concern.  Inspiring others (and myself) via riding a bike to get involved in the fight against modern slavery was and is my concern.  How can I inspire others if I were to endanger Thomas by leaving him alone for any amount of time?  As I said in my last post, purposely putting yourself or others in serious danger is never our call as Christians or anyone seeking to be more loving and compassionate.  I would be very hypocritical if I continued on, and I certainly wouldn’t want to plant in someone’s head that intentional near-martyrdom is in any way a noble way of life.  Martyrs are heroic not because they stupidly rush into danger; they are heroic because by living a good life they find themselves in danger. 

It’s funny to me that we should have been in Truth or Consequences tonight.  I’ve been trying to concoct some great post to write based on the town name, so for a few days I’ve been reflecting on how strange it is that the town’s name is Truth OR Consequences rather than Truth AND Consequences.  Generally we as humans prefer lying to telling the truth because there are consequences that come with telling the truth.  Lying is much easier.  The name of the town is in itself odd, clearly, but I started wondering how New Mexicans justify the or.  Today, in thinking about what we should do from here, I thought of at least practical usage of the or: if Thomas and I do what is right, there will be no consequences; if we do not do what is right, there will be consequences.  I can think of no serious consequences that might come of our returning home early, but I can think of serious consequences coming from our pushing onward.  Based on my flawless logic, that means that returning home now is the right thing to do.  Equate “right” with “truth” and we’ve got an explanation for the town name. 

I’m sure no one thought of our unique situation when naming the town, of course.  Still I think it may be a general truth that doing what is right, following or telling the truth (for Christians, this has to mean an intentional thoughtfulness of our faith in The Truth in all that we do), does not breed consequences.  Doctors and pastors/ministers alike take a Hippocratic oath (for pastors, it’s only through education and love, not an official thing) when entering their respective services.  A great part of that oath is that the care-giver will first and foremost do no harm.  The best path, the truest path, is always the path that does the least harm.

Coming from me, saying that the best path does the least harm is rather incredible.  I usually say that the best path causes the most harm because people don’t want to hear the truth.  I still agree with that, though.  If the entire world has its mind in the wrong place, telling the truth will upset a lot of people—yet it will also cause fewer and less serious consequences than just simply doing no harm.  It might seem more harmful to upset a lot of people, but it would be more harmful to let them live their lives as they already are and leave 27 million slaves with no hope. 

I will continue posting all the way to my return to Massachusetts and beyond, but the posts will be less reflective and far more informational, because I will have less to reflect on (or so I think now).  For now, though, I leave you with the hope that you will take the path of least total harm.  Do not be afraid to upset people, even if they be your close family or friends, or your boss, if it means that it will save a life.  Don’t worry if you make mistakes or take a wrong turn.  If you do, just recalculate and reset and figure out the best path forward from where you are.  That best path will always be the path of least harm.

(Update from today: Thomas was released from the hospital at noon today feeling and looking much, much better.  Other than drinking lots of fluids and staying out of the sun, and the revelation that Thomas might be diabetic, everyone is sure that he will be perfectly fine in a few days.  He was able to endure more traveling today than I expected.  We are now in Dalhart, Texas, with about 1900 miles left to home.   Today I want to make sure that Thomas is well-taken care of, comfortable, relaxed, and has everything he wants, so I will not start posting regularly again until tomorrow.  I'm sure you will understand and forgive me for the lack of posts the past few days)