EFFICIENCY

COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 23 Feb 2010

Dietrich Fischer

    During the French revolution, a doctor, a lawyer and an engineer were sentenced to be beheaded by the guillotine.  The executioner asked the doctor, "Do you want to lie down face up or face down?"  "Face up," he said.  "Blindfold or no blindfold?" the executioner asked.  "No blindfold," the doctor said.  He lay down and the blade of the guillotine came rushing down, but stopped one inch before his neck.  According to French law, if an execution fails, the accused must be freed, so he walked away.  The executioner asked the lawyer, "Do you want to lie down face up or face down?"  "Face up," he said.  "Blindfold or no blindfold?" the executioner asked.  "No blindfold," the lawyer said.  He lay down, the blade came falling, but again stopped one inch before his neck, and he was freed.  Then the executioner asked the engineer, "Do you want to lie down face up or face down?"  "Face up," he said.  "Blindfold or no blindfold?" the executioner asked.  "No blindfold," the engineer said.  He lay down, and as the executioner was about to release the blade, he shouted, "Wait a minute, I can see your problem!"

    Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 23 Feb 2010.

Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: EFFICIENCY, is included. Thank you.

If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.

Share this article: email mastodon facebook 🔗 copy link

This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.

Comments are closed.