Honest Abe

Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! (Psalm 27:11-14 ESV). The history of the presidency in our country has become an interest to me in the last decade. We hear many newscasters comparing modern presidents to some of the early leaders of our nation. Of course, it is not much more than just talk to fill time in the broadcast, though it is interesting to me. We can all agree that there were some great leaders in those early years. Abraham Lincoln is one of those great men. In managing the country store, as in everything that he undertook for others, Lincoln did his very best. He was honest, civil, ready to do anything that should encourage customers to come to the place, full of pleasantries, patient, and alert. On one occasion, finding late at night, when he counted over his cash, that he had taken a few cents from a customer more than was due, he closed the store, and walked a long distance to make good the deficiency. At another time, discovering on the scales in the morning a weight with which he had weighed out a package of tea for a woman the night before, he saw that he had given her too little for her money. He weighed out what was due, and carried it to her, much to the surprise of the woman, who had not known that she was short in the amount of her purchase. Innumerable incidents of this sort are related of Lincoln. In fact, these incidents are the source of his nickname, “Honest Abe.” Tragically there aren’t as many people who could claim that nickname as there once were. A Money magazine survey found that Americans are becoming less honest. Twenty-four percent of respondents said they wouldn’t correct a waiter who undercharged them. In a similar poll conducted in 1987, only 15 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t correct the waiter. What would you do if you found a wallet containing $1,000? Twenty-four percent of this year’s respondents said they’d keep the cash, compared with 4 percent a decade ago. People ages 18-34 were 10 times more likely to keep the money than people 65 and older. Nearly one-third of the respondents said they’d cheat on their income taxes. The rich seemed especially fond of tax fraud. Forty-five percent of Americans with annual incomes exceeding $50,000 said they wouldn’t report $2,000 in cash income on their tax returns, compared with 24 percent of those earning less than $15,000. A quarter of the respondents said they’d commit a crime for $10 million if they knew they wouldn’t get caught. Men (31 percent) were twice as likely to do so than women (16 percent). How’s your honesty? Perhaps like David in our reading this morning, our prayer should be, Lord, lead me along the path of honesty.