A man gathers his three teenage sons out in his backyard, next to a burnt down shack. He says to them, “I know one of you burned down the outhouse. Which one of you did it?”
The sons remained silent.
The man said, “My sons, I want to tell you the story of George Washington. He chopped down his father’s prize cherry tree. When his father asked him about it, he said, ‘I cannot tell a lie, father. It was I who chopped down the tree.’ Rather than punishing him, his father rewarded him for his courage in telling the truth in difficult circumstances.”
“So I ask you again, my sons: which of you burned down the outhouse?”
The middle son came forward with his head hung down, saying, “Father, your story has shamed me. I was the one who lit the outhouse on fire.”
At this point, the father picked up a branch and started after the middle son, who ran for his life! As he ran away, he shouted over his shoulder, “But father - what about George Washington and the cherry tree?”
The father replied, “George Washington’s father wasn’t IN THE CHERRY TREE when he chopped it down!”