Out Our Way: Tailgating Doc

Matthew 15:14 — “If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch”

Out our way, horse trailers are a pretty common sight. In many cases ranchers own or lease multiple grazing lands that are separate from each other — and often the rancher or the cowhands lived somewhere else. So it was necessary to load up the horses and haul them to the sites.

Now while most folks have the large multi-horse trailers, some of us had the smaller old fashion type where the horse barely fits and his tail and hind end stick out. Such was my case, and, as Doc — whose official name was “Goliath” due to his size — barely fit into the trailer, a good bit of his rear hung over the tailgate. You would have to be blind or incredibly ignorant to not realize how risky it is to tailgate a small trailer with a big horse’s rear end hanging out. And you really have to be blind or a total moron to continue to do so when you see that tail start to rise up.

Well, some guy came up behind us while we were going through town where there is traffic, stop signs, and even a real traffic light or two. He tailgated me — and drove right up almost bumper-to-bumper while I was stopped — as Goliath began to raise his tail. I will let you figure out what happened next.  

Now as blind and foolish as that driver was, imagine how much more blind and foolish someone would be who ignored the consequences of that first driver and did the same thing? The philosopher George Santayana famously said something to the effect “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.” Jesus warned of the same thing referring to Jewish leaders His day who could quote the scriptures but ignored their content — who knew the historical consequences that had followed when Israel’s elite leadership had sought to replace obedience to God with the worship of power, prestige, and control. “The golden calf” (Exodus 32, 1 Kings 12) resulted in apostasy replacing faith as the cultural norm and the eventual destruction of the nation.

Today we face similar times, and like the guy tailgating me in traffic as Doc began to raise his tail, there are many who simply refuse to see the obvious. Worse, there are many who follow them. Thus, as Jesus warned, “when the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch.” So what do we do?

First, let us open our eyes. There is none so blind as those who will not see. I tell believers to read their scriptures and their history. As for agnostics and atheists, I tell them to at least read their history.   

Second, stop following blind guides. If someone is so foolish as to insist on tailgating Doc as he raises his tail, that doesn’t mean I have to be a fool as well. 

George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and “1984” are constantly quoted as prophetic warnings of our present age, and indeed it is hard to read either work without seeing the exact things he warned about coming to pass. Some refuse to see. Some choose blindness over vision and far too many blindly follow the blind and tailgate Doc. Even so, that doesn’t mean I have to be one of them.

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Be blessed and be a blessing.

Brother John