Notes On Critical Question #3

--Part 5--
Denying Imagination

Everytime I meet a commercial airline pilot I gotta ask, "Have you ever seen a UFO?"

Nope , I've never seen one and don't believe they exist. But I always look forward to hearing an interesting or unusual answer.

I used to regularly ask people I'd recently met a question after describing the following scenario:

A friend asks you to drive him in his car to the airport and drop him off. Which you then do, and return back to his house to pick up your car.

But after arriving at his house you notice one of the rear tires is almost flat. Being a conscientious friend, you decide to change the tire as a favor, and unlock the trunk to take out the spare tire.

Inside the trunk you find bundles of used, unmarked $1000 bills. It's impossible to guess how much cash is staring you in the face ... but it's definitely more than you could easily carry off with four trips in a wheelbarrow.

So here's the question: How much cash would you have to find in the trunk that would cause you to pack the entire amount into suitcases, drive straight to the airport and start buying plane tickets, and turn your back forever on every facet of your present life?

That unconditionally means NO more contact ever with your husband, wife, girlfriend, children, family and friends. Absolutely none ... because any traceable connection between you and them might cause harm to come to you both. And there are NO exceptions to this condition!

And no, you can't change the rules either by donating all the money to charity, or sharing it with your sister, because it's not your money to begin with. This is an all-or-nothing proposition.

I got a wide range of answers over the years. One of the ones I remember best came from the husband (of a woman who heard the question at the same time) who, without hesitating a moment, simply shouted, "Forty-five thousand dollars!" Thing is, he was serious.

And no, they aren't married any more.

Folks who tended to answer "No amount of money! None!" even before they'd had time to think about the question simply revealed that they were obviously trapped, and that a protective switch inside their brain had clicked that protected them from punishing themselves by entertaining any possibility of flight and freedom.

The more realistic answers ranged from several hundred thousand to several hundred million dollars. The haggling point, in most peoples' minds, was establishing a price for trading family and relationships for cash.

Several folks said it was a stupid question and wouldn't answer, afraid somehow of being tricked.

No, there's no trick or mysterious point hiding behind the question. Not so far as I know. I only mention it here because some people have a difficult time imagining how they'd deal with situations they haven't already experienced that might require them to make extremely difficult decisions.

And they can't imagine that ever happening.

PS. In case you're wondering "What was Critical Question #2?" this is it:
If you could transport yourself back in time to any specific historical day, what date would you chose?

PSS. If you don't already know Critical Question #1 please e-mail me, and let's talk.

--next Part 6 (Conclusion) --
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