iWalk.2020.01.23 Shovels into Plovers

The transportation history of the Mormon (Latter Day Saints) migration into what is now the State of Utah is described on a plaque beside a display at the Hurricane Heritage Park and Museum (the link is to Utah’s Adventure Family website). More details are available from an article on Wikipedia. The contrast between the wagons/handcarts that journeyed across unmade tracks, carrying mostly the bare essentials of life, and a behemoth that is a modern truck capable of smoothly cruising the asphalt with its full load of nutritionally-empty sweetened, fizzy water will not escape your ironic gaze.

The Snopes website debunked the falsehood that the LDS church has a significant share ownership in either of the two dominant fizzy-beverage companies, Pepsi and Coca-Cola. That article was updated in late Aug. 2012 when the church seemed to moving towards a more relaxed position. In Jan. 2016 NPR published an article clarifying some common misconceptions. Decaffeinated versions of fizzy drinks are widely available in Utah. The latest information I was able to find today, on the official church website, suggests a return to the traditional stance.

The finance-oriented news organization Bloomberg reported in Jan. 2012 on the investment wealth of the LDS church. A headline in the Washington Post in mid-Dec. 2019, "Mormon Church has misled members on $100 billion tax-exempt investment fund, whistleblower alleges", seems to have passed without generating waves of outrage, although this might be because of the season and another outstanding whistleblower matter, which has led to the impeachment trial of the president of the United States, Donald John Trump.

The idea of beating swords into plowshares recurs in the Bible (Isaiah 2:4; Joel 3:10; Micah 4:3) and seems to have been extended locally, but with a twist, as beating worn-out sward tools into shovel-plovers. I had previously noticed the example by the old wheel and was delighted on my walk to find it's mate just around the corner in an adjacent street. Just how widespread this mimetic artifact has become is something for which I will be on the alert.

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