The Lessons of Camelot

Like all entertaining mythology, the story of King Arthur has endured the test of time, reminding us that values of courage and honor still serve to inspire us today. From its tale, it is not always easy to demarcate between elements of documented history and magical folklore, but are there lessons we can still discover that would apply to our world today?

Although of direct royal lineage, it is told that young Arthur was raised in secrecy by Merlin the Wizard, a great teacher. After the death of King Uther the absence of an heir resulted in a period of great dissent and instability. Merlin prophesied that whomever was able to draw out a majestic magical sword, called Excalibur, from a stone in which it was embedded, would be rightfully crowned the next king. Arthur fulfills this prophecy, and is propelled to seize his destiny by ascending the English throne, thus giving rise to an unprecedented golden age of prosperity and culture, fueled by values of knightly courtesy and heroic deeds. These were glorious times of chivalry, when Knights and Ladies are said to have devoted themselves to express noble virtues such as loyalty, self-control, generosity, compassion, mercy, justice, and honor. The age of Camelot. 

What Is The Hardest Thing To Understand About God?

 "What Is The Hardest Thing To Understand About God" - John Ortberg

The Cost of Costs

We recently took a trip to Tennessee to visit family and were distressed to discover the inflationary impact these two costs had on our trip: 

1) The cost of rental cars. For example, in 2018, I rented a car for 7 days at the daily cost of $33.01 @ day. (All of the costs that I will be referencing includes taxes and fees)  In 2020, the cost was $46.38 @ day for a 6 day rental. Compare that to June 2022, where the rental rate was $82.40 @ day for a 9 day rental!

2) Gas prices. Continuing the trip examples above, in 2018 the cost of a gallon of gas averaged $2.52. In 2020, the average was $2.17 (Pandemic + supply exceeded demand). In June, 2022, the average cost of a gallon of gas was $4.96! 

Now anyone who has purchased anything in the last year realizes that these are not the only areas impacted by the surge of inflation that we are currently experiencing. Grocery prices in 2022 are averaging over 7.8% higher than 2021. In fact if you've attempted to purchase electronics, cars, food, and even homes you have been impacted by the product and employee shortgages, as well as the disruption to shipping around the world.  

But let's drill down and take a closer look at gas prices to see what is driving costs so high. 

The Summum Pyramid

In 1979, or maybe it was 1980, I spent a few weeks with some friends in Salt Lake City. What drew us to this city was first and foremost, free lodging. A wonderful family, whose names I cannot remember, invited us to stay with them while we explored the city and they would often accompany us on local adventures. 

Looking back I was blissfully unaware of the propaganda that I was exposed to on a daily basis, mostly I was enamored by their very pretty daughter who enjoyed hanging out with us for some crazy reason. (I think it was a light attraction to our Southern accents and a stronger desire to share her Mormon beliefs) We would usually end the day around their piano in the living room, where I would play some of the more popular songs that I could remember and they would sing along. We would end up with twenty plus people gathered in their living room and afterward we would just talk, play games and hang out. On most days we would take trips to local attractions like the Mormon Temple, several museums, a local amusement park, Donut Falls, the Capital building, Salt Lake, the Bonneville drag races, explored a couple of the ski resorts that surround the city, played hide-n-seek in a ghost town, and visited a huge copper mine (?). But the attraction that stood out the most during my time in Salt Lake City was the Summum Pyramid.