Did you actually read Pelicanen’s reply? They’re not disagreeing with you. I don’t disagree either. The point they’re making is that it’s better late than never. Obviously doing the right thing in the first place is best, no one is saying otherwise.
Edit: if you’re trying to argue that returning ‘later today’, as OP claims to plan to do, is too slow/late then that’s a fair argument. That’s not what your comment reads like though.
Again, I don’t think your actually understanding what is being said. Yes, that is ridiculous. We agree. However what has been done has already been done.
Time as we humans experience it moves only in one direction. We can not go back to change that. Time travel does not exist. So the question is what should be done going forward.
Attempting even the least harm reduction, while inferior to avoiding harm altogether, is better than no harm reduction. Should OP have done much better? Yes. Should they do something now rather than nothing at all? Also yes.