with acknowledgement to Peter Mullins.
If you start with a cage containing five monkeys and inside the
cage, hang a banana on a string from the top and then you place a set
of stairs under the banana, before long a monkey will go to the
stairs and climb toward the banana.
As soon as he touches the stairs, you spray all the other monkeys
with cold water.
After a while another monkey makes an attempt with same result ...
all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon when
another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try
to prevent it.
Now, put the cold water away.
Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.
The new monkey sees the banana and attempts to climb the
stairs.To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the crap out of
him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to
climb the stairs he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys, replacing it
with a new one.
The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous
newcomer takes part in the punishment...... with enthusiasm, because
he is now part of the "team".
Then, replace a third original monkey with a new one, followed by
the fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the
stairs he is attacked.
Now, the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they
were not permitted to climb the stairs. Neither do they know why they
are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.
Finally, having replaced all of the original monkeys, none of the
remaining monkeys will have ever been sprayed with cold water.
Nevertheless, not one of the monkeys will try to climb the stairway
for the banana.
Why, you ask? Because in their minds...that is the way it has
always been!
This, my friends, is how Parliament operates... and this is
why, from time to time:
ALL of the monkeys need to be REPLACED AT THE SAME TIME.
