Jim and Edna were both patients in a mental
hospital. One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool,
Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool
and stayed there.Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the
bottom and pulled Jim out. When the hospital director became aware of
Edna's heroic act, she immediately ordered that Edna be discharged from
the hospital because she now considered Edna to be mentally stable.
The director went to Edna and said, "I have some good news and some bad
news. The good news is that you're being discharged because you responded
so rationally to a crisis by jumping in the pool to save the life of
another patient. Your action displays sound mindedness.
The bad news is that Jim, the patient you saved, hung himself in the
bathroom with his bathrobe belt right after you saved him. I am so sorry,
but he's dead."
Edna replied, "He didn't hang himself. I put him there to dry. How soon
can I go home?"