Out Our Way: Back off, Jack

Isaiah 5:20 - "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil" 

Out our way, common sense is a virtue most of us cherish - especially when around horses. Only a moron will spook a green horse by walking up behind it without letting it first know you are there. And I have known of some folks whose mental dexterity was almost as bad. 

I was taking Doc to the vet for a visit and had loaded him in my trailer. Now Doc is a big dude and my trailer is small. Even with him tied off snug and tight at the front, his rear sticks out over the tailgate.   

Anyway, I loaded him up and took off from the stable and headed off across town to the vets. Now, Main Street is also Highway 2, a two-lane highway and a favorite route many tourists take on their way to Glacier National Park. We had two stop lights in town and, as luck would have it, the one I came to was red. And some tourist was behind me. As luck would have it, the second light turned yellow as I approached and I opted to slow down and stop before it changed as because of the weight of the trailer and Doc making braking more difficult. (I am told he weighed about 1200 lbs ... I'm not sure that's accurate, but when he stepped on my foot once, I believed it!)

Well, the tourist was not happy as I was slowing him down (wait 'til he gets to the third stoplight ... about 62 miles further down the road and may have to stop again!) So when the light turned green and I began moving again, he opted to tailgate me and flash his lights to let me know how annoyed he was.  

As I shared before, Doc is a big horse who just barely fits in the small trailer - and it was not just his tail that hung over the tailgate. Can you see what's coming? The tourist didn't. The tourist suddenly stopped tailgating me and later, when he finally passed me honking and making some gestures, I noticed his windshield wipers were going full tilt. I suspect, if he gets behind another horse trailer, he will keep his distance. Sometimes folks have to learn the hard way.

Isaiah had been around for a time and knew his history. As the philosopher George Santayana noted.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." In other words, some folks never learn and keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Isaiah knew his history and what had happened to those who had championed evil and fooled the gullible into thinking it was good. The result was always the same - society collapsed and the nation self-destructed. Look at Egypt , Rome, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union. Common sense and basic morality was called "bad" and dismissed as old-fashioned, while evil and immorality were hailed as "good" and called "progress." by the elites. And every time the foolish believed and followed them and self-destructed.

Well, let's hope that tailgating tourist wasn't quite so foolish as that.  

Be blessed and be a blessing.

Brother John

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].