The Cost of Freedom

There are worse things in life than having a broken toe. Trek, for example.

For those who don’t already know, Trek is a church-sanctioned youth activity that requires teenagers to dress up like pioneers and pull wooden handcarts 30 miles across rugged terrain during the heat of summer. The point is to give them a better appreciation for the hardships faced by their nomadic ancestors in the 1800s and also to help stifle the growth of organized religion.

Regretfully, I didn’t get to experience it myself because I grew up in the 80s and was already burdened by real-life hardships like not having free Wi-Fi or any devices that could use free Wi-Fi. My 14-year-old son is much more fortunate, though, so my wife and I bought him a bunch of clothing from the local thrift store that smelled like the 1800s and told him he was going to Trek.

In response, he broke his toe.

It probably wasn’t on purpose but nevertheless resulted in an xray and a doctor’s note freeing him from this year’s journey. On the bright side, at least those clothes will still be in good shape for his first day of high school next month.