Below is another pass-along from Kenneth in Australia (the best boss I ever had!). Thanks, KCT! The e-mail that he forwarded included breath-taking photos over China. The file contained 60 slides, unfortunately, too big to attach here.
A Story About Two Pebbles
The difference between logical thoughts and “lateral” thoughts.
There was once in a small village a farmer who owed an important sum of money due to be repaid to a very ugly old man.
The farmer had a very pretty daughter that the old lender was sweet on, the lender proposed a deal:
He said he would annul the debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified about this proposition.
So, the old lender suggested hazard should determine the outcome of his proposition.
He told them he would put two pebbles one black and one white in an empty money bag, and the daughter would pick, without looking … one of the two pebbles.
1) If she picks a black one, she must marry me and the debt to her father is eliminated.
2) If she picks the white pebble, she doesn’t have to marry me and the debt is also eliminated.
3) If she refuses to pick a pebble, her father will go to jail.
While speaking, the old lender leaned forward and picked up two pebbles. As he was picking them up, the daughter with a sharp eye noticed he had picked up two black pebbles and put them in the money bag. But, she said nothing.
The old lender asked the daughter to pick a pebble out of the bag.
This discussion was taking place on the road in front of the farmer’s house and the road was paved with pebbles.
Imagine for an instant what you would have done.
What would you have suggested the daughter to do?
If we analyze the situation, there are 3 possibilities:
1) The daughter refuses to pick out a pebble;
2) The daughter picks out both pebbles revealing the old lender cheated.
3) The daughter picks out a black pebble and sacrifices herself by marrying the old coot and saves her father from imprisonment.
Take a moment to reflect on this situation.
This story means to illustrate a point…..
The difference between logical thought and so called “lateral” thought.
The daughter’s dilemma cannot be resolved in an equitable manner by traditional logic.
Think of the consequences of each of the three possible options.
So, what would you have done?
Here is what the young woman did: She plunged her hand in the bag, picked a pebble and, clumsily, dropped it on the ground.
Before it could be determined whether it was black or white, it mixed with other pebbles on the ground.
"Ah! Gosh! I sure am clumsy," said the young woman.
"But no matter: if I remove the other pebble from the bag …. we will know which pebble I had picked first don’t you think? Since the second pebble was black, the first has to have been white."
The old lender didn’t dare announce his cheating.
The young woman transformed an almost impossible situation into a very advantageous ending!
Moral of the story: A solution exists for most problems.
It’s just that we don’t always know how to examine every angle of the situation.
