An Introduction for
Citizen of the Year
January 12, 2009
page 3 of 3 pages
"But, I confess to you that I was tempted—yes, tempted—on that occasion to do so—to lie. The man had asked me the question because he was truly uncertain if it was me, and I knew that I could lie to this man. Yet, I knew the truth; he had, in fact made me a loan. And I remembered it quite well. It was at a time when I was short of the cash I needed for a small investment. I was short of cash because all of my other investments at that moment were not readily liquefiable. And that situation is not all that uncommon; many of my investments even at this time are still not readily convertible to cash.
"In any case, at the time to which the man was referring—even though he was uncertain that it was me involved in the transaction—I was in need of a small amount of immediate cash for an upcoming investment opportunity that evening and, yes, I had asked the man for a loan – and he had given me the money I asked for. Unfortunately, that loan didn’t produce the profitable return I had expected because a business competitor turned the deal instead; it turned out he had three jacks compared to my pair of nines.
"In any case, even though this gentleman with whom I had just renewed my acquaintance didn’t remember who he had loaned the money to, I did—and it was me. Yet, what the gentleman didn’t remember was that he had loaned me not fifty dollars, but a hundred dollars.
"So, on that occasion, I was tempted to lie. I could have easily handed him fifty dollars, thanked him for the loan and told him how so very good it was of him to bring the matter to my attention even though it had been constantly on my mind, and I was so happy that I happened upon him this day so that I might repay him.
"Yes, I could have handed over to him fifty dollars and that would have been the end of it because the gentleman truly did not remember the specifics of the loan and, as a result, he would have been satisfied, and I would have been up fifty dollars—the difference between what I actually owed and what he thought I owed.
"But, even though I could have benefited from this deception, I couldn’t deceive him in that regard. Too great was my abhorrence for lying. Yes, even though I was tempted to lie, ultimately I could not.
"I looked into this dear fellow’s inquiring face—so trusting, so innocent, so free of malice. I said, 'Bless you, dear sir, you are a generous man and I must set this matter straight between us because my nature compels me to speak the truth.' I said, 'It must have been someone else to whom you loaned fifty dollars.'
"So, you see, it is because of my nature that I cannot lie to you on this occasion and tell you that I know this man sitting here in our midst. I do not. However, when I look at this man, he appears to have a handsome face—no, strike that—a pleasant enough face—no, that’s not quite it either—he appears to have a face that a mother could love—perhaps if she were near sighted, cross eyed, and had a saintly ability to overlook obvious reality.
"Therefore, all I can say in honesty is that I don’t know this man nor what it is that he’s done to attract all this attention but, for the sake of his mother, I hope you can forgive him."
page 3 of 3 pages
