So, for the last few weeks, I’ve been biking from San Diego to Las Vegas, visiting Buddhist retreats, Kabbalah centers, Coptic Orthodox Monasteries, Evangelical men’s groups, and the like. I was excited to see some of the best parts of my trip, like Chimayo, New Mexico, where the Virgin Mary is rumored to appear, and northern Texas, with the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere, but I will not see them.
Everything has been stolen from me. While I was in the Mojave desert, someone in a light blue truck pulled up and loaded everything I owned while I was using the bathroom. They took everything – my bicycle, my computer, my grandmother’s prayer book, and all my notes. Worst of all, they left me in the middle of the desert 100 miles from any city, with no food, no transportation, nothing.
Through luck, I made it to Las Vegas, where a friend lent me the money to fly back to Baltimore. Poorer than Job’s turkey, I was crying on the plane, between a middle-aged white man who kept hugging me and an 80-year-old black woman who had seen Martin Luther King Jr. speak in 1963, and was coming to D.C. for the inauguration. “It’s Ok to cry,” she kept telling me. “It shows you’re asking for help. But you just got to have faith.” It was the last thing I wanted to hear.
What kind of person would steal everything someone owns in the desert, leaving that person in the middle of nothing?
I don’t have the energy to do anything right now.
I’m sorry to hear about this hugs
— jhh · Jan 21, 09:03 PM · #
Matthew….sorry to hear about your misfortune.
Best of luck to you. Keep the faith!
Michelle Stacho
— Michelle Stacho · Jan 22, 10:12 AM · #
Please read your email from me.
— Karen · Jan 22, 10:40 AM · #
Matthew
I have been following your blog for a while now and am so sorry to read of the theft of your belongings. I am relieved that you were able to make it to safety, even though you lost so many valurable (and irreplacable) things.
I have posted about your circumstances on my blog and have sent a few dollars your way. It is not enough to replace anything you lost, but I felt called to do something to help you remember that there is more good in the world than there is evil.
Blessings
Mama Kelly
— mama kelly · Jan 22, 08:28 PM · #
Dude, I will keep my eye out here in Texas for a light blue pickup. I hope the SOB that did that gets his but good. What a creepy, nasty wretch. My heart is beating a mile a minute just reading about it, so I can imagine how upset you are. You poor thing. I’m going to look on the sunny side of the egg and say, it was rotten it happened, but maybe it’s best you are back home and away from the vagaries of the road and the mean bastards running loose. Sorry for the language but I am really, really mad on your behalf.
— The Olde Dame · Jan 22, 10:24 PM · #
Matt—
What do you need to make this right?
What do you need financially?
What do you need for a bike or for equipment?
How can we help—if you are not too brokenhearted to try again, how can those of us in the blogosphere who have been touched by your pilgrimage help you to return to it?
Feel free to reply offline if you wish, but please let me know if you want help trying to make this right.
{{{hug}}}
Blessed be.
— Cat C-B · Jan 23, 10:44 AM · #
I’m so sorry to hear about this. :(
I’m also willing to pitch in. Your blog has been a welcome addition to my day, and your explorations of different faith traditions has added to my own store of knowledge.
— harmonyfb · Jan 23, 08:01 PM · #
Now you know…. human beings are inherently evil….. most people are opportunistic sociopaths with little empathy for their fellow man.
— Dave · Jan 28, 02:13 AM · #
Dave, I’m not sure that’s true (or not true for that matter.) I think Matt ran into a dishonest person. (Was it the location, being so close to Vegas? Who knows?)
I think a fair statement would be that some human beings are inherently evil. Others learn to be evil. Some people inspire evilness. And others are good, indifferent, etc., etc., etc.
— Karen · Jan 28, 12:17 PM · #
It would not be a real pilgrimage without suffering. Good luck on the second round!
— st.even · Jan 29, 08:01 PM · #
I second Cat C-B – we can’t replace your Grandma’s prayer book or heal your heart, but we can help in other ways!
What’s a journey through religion without some miracles? ;)
— Heather · Feb 2, 02:39 PM · #
I posted comment number 8, and I am follow this journey because I am a bicycle tourist. I am planning a multi-year bike tour myself. The journey is excellent as well as the writing. I am also a devout Atheist (with a leaning toward buddhism)…. and I still believe that most humans on this planet are evil. We are animals on this planet, and for the most part… we act like animals. I have a moral compass that always points towards being friendly and respectful to my fellow humans, but I am not surprised his bike was stolen despite the location.
— Dave · Feb 5, 12:16 AM · #
I’m very sorry that this happened to you. I just found your website today, and really enjoyed your writing.
A deep bow,
Dogo
— Dogo Barry Graham · Apr 8, 02:23 AM · #