Please! Not another Op-Ed about campaign promises of the 47th presidency. No, we will leave that to the political analysts who will be writing for years about how Trump won after being indicted in three states, impugned by every main squeeze media outlet, and outspent by nearly a billion dollars. Someday, when they finish looking down at stats and inward at their own bias, maybe they will look up and see the answer. This piece isn’t about that either; it’s about a dog.
Last week marked the 100th anniversary of the Great Serum Run, aka the Great Race of Mercy. The legendary race immortalized a dog named Balto, who pulled a sled into Nome, Alaska, saving a town from diphtheria and certain death. Balto only pulled the last 55 miles, crossing a river and mountains to finish the run into Nome. Twenty mushers and over 150 dogs ran the entire trip.
The longest and most arduous leg was anchored by a lesser-known dog named Togo, whose team pulled over 260 miles through blinding snow and wind chills to 85 below zero! At one crucial interval, Togo led the team across the frozen Norton Sound just three hours before the ice broke up and made it uncrossable.
When Musher Gunnar Kaasen and Balto arrived at the hospital, they fulfilled a promise to save Nome and the surrounding villages, running in under six days a trip that usually took a sled team nearly a month. Nome’s only doctor’s telegram had begged: “An epidemic of diphtheria is almost inevitable here. I am in urgent need of one million units of diphtheria antitoxin.” The nearest train tracks ended in Nenana, 674 miles from Nome. Sea travel was impossible in January, and only open-cockpit airplanes existed in 1925, no match for Alaska’s howling winds and winter cold.
Men with dogs that moved only six to nine miles per hour said yes to the impossible. Every team pulled day and night through snow measured in feet, not inches. Daytime’s 20 below became 60 below at night. Only the dogs could sense where the trail was most of the time. Against these odds, Nome trusted the dogs and men anyway, hoping they would see the way, make good decisions and deliver lifesaving help to the helpless. As a nation, we could learn something about trust and loyalty from canines.
Balto and his teammates, Fox, Billy, Sye, Old Moctoc and Alaska Slim, lived out their days in the former Brookside Zoo in Cleveland. They moved there after being forgotten in a dime museum in late 1920s California. The world loved the dogs and their story…for a while, but they forgot when the parades ended. You can visit the Balto memorial at the zoo’s 100th anniversary celebration this weekend.
Humans move on. The concept is lauded as healthy and necessary after the terror threat lifts, the smoke clears or the caskets are lowered into Arlington. Our nation will be recovering for years from the toxic alphabet soup of DEI, CRT, LGBTQ+, ESG and BS that tanked the economy, injected millions with a substance the CDC has since admitted was neither safe nor effective, and surgically mutilated thousands of confused children. The flashing virtue signals still light the trail of Hamas banners, discarded N-95 masks, Antisemitic graffiti and well-worn paths at illegal border crossings.
Meanwhile, in the real world, millions of North Carolinians are still reeling from a 2024 hurricane. On the opposite coast, Californians will take years to recover from the flaming Leftists that torched an ill-prepared state in another entirely predictable tragedy, made worse by a chief fighting fires with DEI instead of H2O. “Move on” is not the message while the pain is still sharp, and relief is still needed. They need to hear, “Help is coming!” Let’s not let the message die like a forgotten dog tale.
Relief organizations are on the ground. President Trump has already delivered in two weeks more relief than what was promised in the last four months. Let’s cure this problem before we move on to less lethal matters like interest rates and renamed waterways. Disney made the name Balto famous, but nations are most often rescued, canals dug, and people saved by nameless men with crude tools like dogs, shovels, sleds and Executive Order pens.
So, before we move on, here’s my ask, and full disclosure: I’m a North Carolina pastor. I know the Graham family personally and unreservedly recommend giving to Samaritan’s Purse because they are on the ground here and in California. They do great work before others arrive and stay well after the news trucks move on and the Hollywood celebs stop Tokking. Will you help me dim the D.C. spotlights and refocus on hurting Americans? Let’s rescue the innocent, heal the wounded, and win the race against radical extremism regardless of who’s the lead dog.
This post was originally published on Townhall.com on February 6, 2025.
