Many hundreds of years ago in a small Indian Village, a merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant's beautiful daughter so he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the merchant' debt if he could marry the merchant's daughter. Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified by the proposal.
The cunning money lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender's wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.
They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the merchant's garden. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick her pebble from the bag.
Lucid decision-making in the toughest of situations
What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her? Careful analysis would seem to produce three possibilities:
- The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
- The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the moneylender as a cheat.
- The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between literal and logical thinking. The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with traditional logical thinking.
Think of the consequences if she chooses the logical answers. Here is what the girl did.
The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.
"Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked."
Since the remaining pebble was black, it must have been assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
Complex problems can be a crisi-tunity
Most complex problems do have a solution. Sometimes we have to think about them in a different way - Respecting.
Now, I have to admit, I thought of a different solution that was not as deft as the daughter. I thought of putting another clause into the agreement that discussed the ramifications of not having both a white and black pebble in the pouch. That would have repercussions that the daughter's solution didn't have.
The daughter stayed calm and observant in this time of stress. She found a novel way to get out of a crisis and turned it into a great opportunity for her and her family.