The Smiths were a proud family in their family tradition.

Their ancestors had come to America on the Mayflower.

They had included senators and Wall Street wizards in their ancestry.

And they decided to compile a family history.

So they decided to hire a guy that was kind of an author, a fine author, who was going to kind of tell the story of their family.

That was their plan.

There was only one problem that arose.

How did they handle their great-uncle George, who was executed in the electric chair?

The author said he could handle the story tactfully.

And so when the book was written, here's how that section read.

It said, great-uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics

at an important government institution.

He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties.

And his death came as a great shock.

Okay. by the strongest of ties. And his death came as a great shock. I guess that's one way of putting it.

Interesting, you know, Paul is being questioned, his integrity, his credentials, who does he think he is?

And he's writing a letter to sort of defend himself,

not a letter of recommendation,

but a record letter of commendation.

It's like he's challenged by the Corinthian church.

By the way, the custom of the day in Paul Paul's day, was that religious leaders would boast of their connections and their genealogies. Jewish religious leaders would

talk down and say, who does this Paul really think he is? And they would try to discredit him.

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