Sometimes the Obvious Answer is Unexpected

A Catholic priest decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon.

Four worms were placed into four separate jars. The first worm was put into a container of alcohol; the second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke; the third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup; and the fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil.

At the conclusion of the sermon, the priest reported the following results: The first worm in alcohol . . . dead. The second worm in cigarette smoke . . . dead. The third worm in chocolate syrup . . . dead. The fourth worm in good clean soil . . . alive!

The priest asked the congregation, "What did you learn from this demonstration?"

Maxine, who was sitting in the back, quickly raised her hand and said, "If you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!"
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Not exactly the response the priest was going for, but a familiar situation for those of us who teach and/or work with groups of people. We think our set-up and examples are perfectly clear and will lead the listener to exactly the conclusion desired, but all too often there is a thinker so far out of the box as to be in a class all by him/herself. If you don't take Maxine's response seriously, she will be offended and alienated because she obviously put the clues together to arrive at the riddle's answer.

It just wasn't the answer the priest expected, but that doesn't mean it's a wrong answer!

My daughter would have said something to the effect of "Disgusting," my son would have said, "Awesome," and my honorary grandson would ask me a series of clarifying questions as he analyzed the riddle and the worms and the jars, and then he would defend Maxine's response as the correct one. Or, at the least, not incorrect.

Shamelessly stolen (and then cleaned up for grammar, spelling, and punctuation) from one of those forwarded emails that clog up my mailbox.