When George Washington left office after serving two terms as President of the United States, he gave a Farewell Address. History says he didn’t actually deliver the speech, but had it printed and disseminated to Congress.

The speech was full of wisdom learned from his long experience as a leader of this country. For many years, decades, perhaps even centuries, this speech was required reading for Members of Congress—especially new members. The encouragement George gave in his talk had many religious overtones, and showed his true feelings about our nation. I think you should read it, perhaps every year!

Today the Farewell Address is not required reading any longer, anywhere. It reminds me of a speech to be given by a minister.

Since he was giving the same speech at a meeting the next day, the minister requested that his Banquet speech not be reported in the newspaper, so listeners wouldn’t be hearing the same anecdotes over again. The Banquet was in a large city to important diners.

One of the reasons for the visiting ministers request, was that he also intended to tell some jokes, and, of course, they wouldn’t be as well received if they were first reported in a newspaper column about his Banquet speech.

Well, that’s all fine and good, but a cub reporter for the local newspaper ended his article about the Banquet speech this way: “The minister told a number of stories than cannot be published!”