When I was a kid, my history book included a story about how George Washington, when confronted by his father about a fallen cherry tree, said, “I cannot tell a lie, I cut down that cherry tree.” I learned that President Abraham Lincoln was called “Honest Abe” because, as a young man, he had walked a long way to return the correct change to a customer of a store. I was told that Ben Franklin had observed that “honesty is the best policy.”
At the time I heard them, these stories were well over 100 years old. They were intended to inspire integrity and teach us the value of leaders who tell the truth. It appears that, 100 years from now, our youngsters are not going to have to listen to this same old tired baloney.
— Larry Cohn
Anchorage
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