def get_exception_message(err):
    """
    Python 2 has the 'message' attribute for exceptions, however python 3 does not.  This helper method
    gives us the ability to sort out which one to use.
    :param err: Some exception
    :return: The exception message string
    """
    try:
        return err.message
    except AttributeError:
        return str(err)
