8 Monkeys

Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable. Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up.

Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder. Now one of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious, but, undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why. However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder.

A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys begin to hammer the senses out of him. This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he's not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he's attacking the new monkey.

One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced. Now there are eight new monkeys in the room. None of them has ever been sprayed by ice water. None of them attempts to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why.

Moral of the story Sometimes, this feels like life. People just accept the status quo as truth because others are seemingly doing the same, without knowing why they do that. They are not quite sure whether what they have been doing all along can be improved or changed. They may even say it’s the policy or a matter of public opinion. At times, it feels it’s just the standard practices that have been passed down from one generation to the next. Nothing else. Then if someone ask questions that are too far out of the comfort zone, that someone is ridiculed and scorned. All they did was ask a simple question that the others did not wish to think about. Just like the new monkey, who has no idea why. Are you one of the monkeys that will without knowing why attack those who are trying to get to the bananas?