In August 1955 I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and spent eleven weeks in basic training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. After a week or two of the intense training about 10 of us decided we deserved a trip to the PX (Post Exchange where they sell things like beer and cigarettes). New recruits were not allowed to go to the PX without a TI (drill sergeant) and TI’s were not eager to see us have any entertainment or fun. You could, however, ask permission to go to church on Sunday in small groups without be escorted. The ten of us told the TI that we were going to church and then we visited the PX. When we returned to the barracks, the TI confronted us. He had apparently suspected our deviance and checked the PX. All the others confessed; I insisted that I had gone to church. Nothing more was said to me but on every duty roster (lists of nasty tasks that were to be performed) for the rest of the 8 or 9 weeks, my name was at the top of every list.
I decided at that point that truth was a very important quality and since then for the last 50 years or so, I have told very, very few untruths. In fact, I believe that I cannot tell an untruth.
Now let’s take the lesson learned here and apply it to the national scene. Many persons, both in the public eye and out, tell untruths constantly. Look at our politicians in Washington. Look at our main-stream press. And it appears that they don’t have any problems telling untruths. I find this very hard to understand and reconcile in my mind.
