It’s The Right Thing To Do…

Where do you go once you’ve admitted that you’re frightened
by the thing that’s consumed so much of your time, your energy, your thoughts,
your emotions, your prayers… pretty much everything? Here, I guess. Getting
ready to talk about tv instead of packing.

 

There is a certain show I enjoy that is no longer on tv
anymore called Stargate Atlantis, and it is about the exploits of a joint military/civilian
expedition in another galaxy as they seek out allies and take on a new kind of
enemy. In the pilot episode, the colonel leading the military contingent (along
with other team members) is taken captive by the enemy. Major John Sheppard,
the next ranking officer who doesn’t really get along with the colonel at all,
has to convince the overall leader of the expedition – Dr. Elizabeth Weir, a
diplomat known for brokering major nuclear disarmament agreements, amongst
other things – to let him take a team to rescue the colonel.

 

Needless to say, the discussion gets heated. One thing
Sheppard says in that discussion in his frustration that has stuck with me, and
is becoming more of a loop as I prepare for my own “expedition”, is “It’s the
right thing to do. Why? Because it is.”

 

In the series, Sheppard is a man of many words – usually military
orders, offbeat humor, and apologies for mis-stumbles, though. When it comes to
talking about his feelings, he’s not anywhere near so eloquent. In fact, he
tends to either avoid it or trail off and leave the person he’s talking to with
blanks to fill in because the words just aren’t there.

 

I find a certain amount of truth about what I am doing in
what Sheppard says. The path I’ve taken up to this point leaves me with little
else to conclude.

 

 

The problem isn’t whether or not I know it’s the right thing
for me to do. I know it. Deep in the bones can’t get it out of my system know
it. And I can tell you why I’m doing it, what I perceive my role to be within
my team and squad as the first wave of both January 2010 squads’ racers get
ready to board the plane for New Zealand
tonight. In the heat of discussion, though, I find an echo in my heart of the
very words Sheppard says after telling Weir that putting together a rescue
mission is the right thing to do.

 

 

Because I feel so strongly about this, I can’t always find
the words to explain adequately. Like Sheppard, I lose my eloquence in my
frustration at my failure to convey what I want to say, and end up in the same
boat as he does. Sheppard doesn’t immediately convince Weir to let him go after
his colonel – but she does tell him that she’ ll reconsider her stance when he
comes up with a plan that has even the vaguest possibility of working (and does, indeed, do so when he presents a plan).

 

The difference in our situations, though (besides taking on
aliens who can literally suck the life out of you with their hands) is that
while I sometimes feel the need to sway people,  I don’t actually have to persuade anyone to
let me go and do this. If any convincing needed to be done, it’s already been
done. Besides, the ultimate leader of my expedition handpicked me specifically
for this mission. Given that, I’m certain I have God’s approval to step on that
plane and go to New Zealand.

 

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