Living up here in Turkey Hollow, I’ve gotten in touch with country living and its values. We value helping our neighbors, excellent baking for the covered dish suppers, volunteering at the local fire department and telling the truth. Being called an honest man is one of the great compliments you can receive up here in the mountains. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird was the perfect example of small town America and its truth tellers. He was the epitome of morality and reason.

Now before I continue, let me be clear. I have lied. I have lied to protect others and I have lied for no reason at all. Over the years, though I have done my best to be honest, I’ve had some flawed moments. There is no way I am looking righteously down at the sinners – I am amongst them!

Having confessed totally, I have to make a comment on the Scooter Libby case. Hasn’t anyone learned anything over the years in Washington? It is amazing to me that no matter what the scandal; public servants in Washington are indicted and sent away for perjury and obstruction of justice and almost never for the actual offense! They are sent to the slammer for lying under oath. It seems that most of the indictments in the past have been perjury or obstruction of justice, for example the shredding documents so as not to get caught.

Now we know that up here in Turkey Hollow and you would think Scooter would know it too. All he had to do was tell the truth and he would most likely be craving turkey with his family at Thanksgiving. Of course, maybe he did understand his actions and decided to fall on his sword to save his boss, the Vice President. Maybe he already knows that if he keeps appealing he can stay out of prison until the end of Bush’s term, when he’ll likely get a pardon and, perhaps, a cushy job at Halliburton.

It is hard to read Scooters mind. Anyone that works in the West Wing and allows themselves to be called “Scooter” isn’t an easy read. I doubt anyone will ever understand exactly what he was thinking.

What I do know is that Americans view truth as a cherished virtue even though few are perfect at articulating it.

At a very early age we were all told that our esteemed first president, George Washington, never told a lie – even after he chopped down that damn cherry tree. Many of us have memories of being whacked across the ass with a belt with a parent saying, “Don’t ever lie to me again, boy.” Many a sermon has named truth as a measure for heavenly bliss. And many have been expelled from a community for lying to the rest.

Ironically, I received a different lesson growing up gay in America. We were the one exception to telling the truth. Our families and neighbors indirectly (and sometimes directly) begged us to lie to every living human being about our homosexuality. Being gay in America was so horrible that all of our major institutions were willing to make an exception about the telling truth so we could lie and stay in the closet.

Now I have to tell you that didn’t make me feel that I had been granted some special privilege by society. For me, it was painful, degrading and made me live in shame for nearly half of my life until I told the truth and came out of the closet. And damn, if they weren’t right, the truth did set me free.

I didn’t know joy until I was out and open as a gay man. I loved telling the truth about my existence. I loved being openly in love and sharing my hidden friends with my family and neighbors. I loved living the truth.

There is a lot of good to say about being honest. It is something to value. We just have make sure those exemptions are erased and everyone is held to the same standard.