Illustration: Integrity

In his book The President is a Sick Man, Matthew Alge tells the story of a man who in August of 1893 wrote a story in which he claimed the President of the United States Grover Cleveland had cancer. He went on to tell of a risky and secret operation to the president's jaw performed on a yacht. The man was Elisha Jay Edwards, and his story appeared in the Philadelphia Press. The administration denied the entire story, claiming the president merely had a toothache. They also mounted a campaign against the author of the article. Across the country he was denounced as a liar. The journalist's career was ruined. For the next 15 years, he had trouble finding work. The problem was that everything the reporter wrote was true; 25 years after the surgery, one of the doctors came forward and vindicated Edwards. Sometimes we pay a price for telling the truth. If no one else knows our heart, God does.