Aunt Bessie loved to visit her nieces and
nephews. However, she had
relatives all over the country.
The
problem was that no matter how much she enjoyed seeing them, she
hated flying. No matter how safe people told her it was, she was always
worried that someone would have a bomb on the plane.
She read
books about how safe it was and listened to the stewardess
demonstrate all the safety features. But she still worried herself silly
every time a visit was coming up.
Finally, the family decided
that maybe if she saw the statistics she’d
be convinced. So they sent
her to a friend of the family who was an
actuary.
“Tell
me,” she said suspiciously, “what are the chances that someone
will
have a bomb on a plane?”
The actuary looked through his tables
and said, “A very small chance.
Maybe one in five hundred thousand.”
She nodded, then thought for a moment. “So what are the o
dds of two
people having a bomb on the same plane?”
Again
he went through his tables.
“Extremely remote,” he said. “About
one in a billion.”
Aunt Bessie nodded and left his office.
And from that day on, every time she flew, she took a bomb with
her.