A hypothetical question

Question:

"One morning a man kisses his wife good bye, gets in his car and drives off to work. After a long day and during the commute home the man is involved in a traffic accident and rushed to the ER of a local hospital. The surgeon looks at the man and says, “I can’t operate, we’re married,”--how is this possible?”

Thought of an answer?

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When a colleague originally posed this hypothetical I hesitated before answering. Not because I thought the question difficult, but because the answer was so simple I wondered if it was a trick question. “The doctor is his wife,” I answered.

“Yes,” my colleague replied. At my puzzled expression he assured me that not everyone would be able to provide the correct answer. I admit I had my doubts, but fortunately I witnessed a demonstration immediately thereafter. A second colleague entered our office and was asked the same question. To my surprise he was completely stumped—he was unable to come up with any answer at all.

Upon further discussion it was revealed that this hypothetical question was designed to provide insight on an individual’s attitude towards gender and professions. Anywhoo, the memory of this episode has stuck with me for years. I can’t say with expert certitude that this hypothetical question does exactly what it is purported to do, but it at the very least gave me food for thought on the subject. Beyond this, it forcefully affirmed—for me, anyway—how significant a role differing POVs, cultural and societal backgrounds or beliefs, etc. can play when diverse individuals are presented with identical situations, and how their responses, while perhaps being completely different and befuddling to others, can be utterly reasonable and logical to themselves.