Riddle

I heard a riddle today. Its not a new one. And I'm sure I have heard it a few times before.

"A man and his son were in an automobile accident. The man died on the way to the hospital, but the boy was rushed into surgery. The emergency room surgeon said "I can't operate, that's my son!" How is this possible?"

I admit, at first my mind raced for the possible answers, as I am sure yours may be right now. I thought, grandfather, uncle, brother, anything that would combine male figure and family. Fortunately the answer came quickly, but not from me, from the radio host. The surgeon was his mother.

The conversation turned to the fact that in a study (and yes, I'm sure this was a completely unofficial study), all the adults that were asked this question had no correct answer. When this riddle was aired on All In The Family in the 70's most people would have been baffled, including children. However today, it was the children that had the answer. Apparently 60% of the kids that were asked this riddle came up with either the correct answer or guessed the son had two dads.

This says a lot about where we are today as a society. It shows progression, albeit small. It shows that people will naturally absorb what they are exposed to, or at least children will. Most kids dont know real gay couples, especially gay dads. But more than half of the kids quizzed, thought outside the conventional box. I couldn't be more outside of that box in reality, and still managed to be fooled into thinking inside it.

Our children are listening. They are paying attention. They have the ability to change the world. They will soon be the adults running this country. I have faith in them. If only I had faith in what we give them to work with.