Will It Float?

David Letterman’s old late-night segment “Will It Float?” once inspired our staff to fill a huge water tank, place it at the front of an auditorium, and ask three thousand people to vote which of a series of items would float. We collected a bunch of unusual objects: a can of Spam, a five-pound bag of flour, an egg, a gallon of milk, a Shaq bobblehead doll. It was pretty funny. 

After everyone voted, we threw in the objects, one by one, and then asked everyone to stare at the tank to see what would happen. 

• Egg: floated. 
• Spam: sank. 
• Gallon of milk: floated. 
• Shaq bobblehead doll: the body sank but the head floated. 
• Five-pound bag of flour: fell apart and turned the whole tank white. 

I turned to the audience after the results and said, “Nobody does very well in marriage, in relationships, at work, psychologically, or in life in general if they’re not buoyant. Getting down is part of life. Staying down is what will kill you.