I’ve always been a fan of King Arthur and his legendary knights of the round table.
For instance, finding an album of the musical Camelot in my parents’ collection of vinyl records is what turned me on to appreciating theater.
What stories from your childhood inspired you the most?
For me, it was always tales of the strong defending the weak and enforcing justice.
Seeing my favorite actor, the late, great Sir Sean Connery, playing King Arthur at his finest in the movie First Knight was a perfect match.
If you know the story, Camelot gets sacked first by the human character weaknesses of passion, infidelity, and unkept promises. Only after these internal conflicts arose was the kingdom weak enough for hostile forces to infiltrate and attack, leaving the once prosperous realm a smoldering ruin.
Yet, for a time, King Arthur upheld the principles of universal justice through service, courage, and humility.
One of my favorite scenes gave me a quote that I often repeated to myself during my military and law enforcement careers. It is the first time in the movie when King Arthur opens a meeting of his knights arrayed at the round table.
The king set the tone, with that iconic Connery voice, by reminding his knights of their purpose:
“May God grant us the wisdom to discover the right, the will to choose it, and the strength to make it endure.”
After opening the meeting, King Arthur invites a guest into the meeting. It is Prince Malagant, a former round table knight that has become an independent warlord, ransacking villages in the neighboring lands in order to scare the common folk into accepting his rule.
Malagant offers a deal to King Arthur to divide up the smaller independent jurisdictions so they two can rule over all the others, insisting that the “lesser” must give way to the “greater”.
The good king holds true to first principles and declines, telling Malagant that he is offering what is not his to give.
Malagant tells King Arthur that his words are talking him into war, but the leader of Camelot is undeterred.
Arthur says, “There’s a peace that is only to be found on the other side of war. If that battle must come, I will fight it”!
How many people today are willing to fight to uphold justice? How many actually know what justice is?
In modern times, conditioned by public schooling, mass media, and political wrangling consistent standards of justice are totally obscured. There are people out there with a keen interest in keeping it that way, it helps them divide and rule.
Cutting through the confusion to see clearly requires deliberate effort, but how do you really know?
That is why I’m glad to share my friend Jim’s concise book: The Way of Justice: Vital Principles of American Martial Art.
You see, first you must know what is worthy of defending, with a clear objective standard, before actually using force to defend it. That is what The Way of Justice gives you.
It’s packed with the sharp truth. An essential for anyone interested in the principles of liberty and how to secure “a free state”.
Perhaps life will never be as ideal as Camelot but at least knowing what the principles of justice are will help take a step in the right direction.
Take a look at The Way of Justice. Click here.
P.S. I’ll probably return to the insights derived from watching First Knight in future posts. There are so many nuggets of wisdom in there and many you only find after repeated viewings. The Way of Justice is similar. It is a book you’ll want to read over again just because of the new discoveries you’ll find with each reading. Check it out, here.