An elderly gentleman, quite well to do, realized that his life
was turning down the final stretch, so he summoned the three
friends that he trusted the most for some advice. one was a
doctor, one a priest,and one an attorney.
“I’ve been thinking lately,” he said to them, “that perhaps
there is something to the ancient Egyptian belief that when we
die, we take some things with us to the next world. So, I’m
giving each of you an envelope with $1 million in it. At my
funeral, I ask each of you to slip it into my casket so that I
can use it on my journey to the next world.” The three agreed.
A few weeks later, he was dead. At the funeral, each of the
three went up to the casket, and each placed an envelope into
the casket. Afterwards, the three were talking, and the doctor
couldn’t keep it in any longer. “I have a confession,” he said.
“This year has been quite bad for the clinic. My cat scan
machine broke, and I had to scrape to replace it. I took $80,000
out of the envelope to pay for it.” As the other two cringed,
the priest then added, “I must confess, too. The poor have been
especially bad this year, and to provide them with food, I took
$120,000 out and used it to feed and clothe them.”
The attorney was beside himself. “I am disgusted. Our friend
asked but one thing of each of us, and trusted us with his last
request. How could you two break that trust and go against his
wishes?” The doctor replies, “You expect us to believe that you,
an attorney, didn’t take anything out of your envelope?”
“I would never!” replied the attorney. “In that envelope was a
personal check for the full amount!”