An Introduction for
Citizen of the Year
January 12, 2009
page 2 of 3 pages
"Yes, my honest nature forbids me to lie. Oh, there have been many situations where lying would have been the easy way out and I’ve been in situations where persons wanted—desperately wanted—me to lie on their behalf. But I couldn’t do it—I just couldn’t—because it’s not in my nature.
"However, there was one time an occasion where I almost – almost – did lie. I confess to you that I was tempted to do so – but I couldn’t. It just wasn’t in my nature.
"You see, there was this man that I had met and had gotten to know a bit. But then some time passed and I hadn’t encountered the man in quite a while. And it wasn’t that I was purposely trying to avoid him even though we lived in the same town not far from each other and belonged to some of the same organizations that met regularly. Sometimes I would see him but never had occasion to actually speak to him since it turned out that every time I saw him, I suddenly thought of other things – extremely urgent things – for me to do.
"But one day I turned a corner and there he was. I practically bumped right into him. And, right away, I thought of several urgent things for me to do, but before I could offer a simple 'Why, hello there, so nice to see you. How have you been? I’d loved to stay and chat, but I’ve got an urgent thing to do', he preempted me and said, 'Say, I’ve been looking for you. Didn’t I loan you fifty dollars? And aren’t you the one who said he’d pay me back the money just as soon as he saw me again?'
"I didn’t reply since, in situations such as these, I always want to make sure I understand a man fully so that I don’t misunderstand his intentions. I evaluated the man and observed that he had a kind face, a face indicating a reasonable man, an honest man. And I saw that his question wasn’t rhetorical. No, he wasn’t asking the questions in an accusatory manner. He simply was uncertain if it was indeed me to whom he had loaned the money.
"Naturally, such an honest, straightforward, non-maliced question would demand honesty from anyone, especially from someone like me who abhors lying so much.
page 2 of 3 pages
