The Monkey Story

There was once 5 monkeys that were kept in a cage. Above them hung a bunch of bananas. The cage was opened and the tempting smell and sight of bananas left all the monkeys wanting to get them. 

But just as one came out of the cage, all the monkeys were doused with water and beaten back into the cage. This happened over and over again.

Soon the monkeys learned that any effort to get the bananas would involve all 5 monkeys a dousing of water and beating. 

One day, 1 monkey was taken out and another came to substitute that monkey. It had no prior knowledge to what happened before, so when it saw the bunch of bananas, it naturally went out to take it. However, before it could reach outside the cage, the other 4 monkeys, fearing that they would be doused and beaten because of this new fool, caught that monkey and beat it up. This happened a few times and the new monkey learned if it were to attempt to go out, it would be beaten up by the other monkeys. So the second monkey was rotated, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth. By now the 2nd batch of monkeys learned that if they were to go out and attempt to take the bananas, they would be beaten down by the monkeys from the 1st batch (or the ones who got "educated" by the previous batch).

Unbeknowest to the 2nd batch of monkeys, a 3rd batch was forced to watched them from a distance since the 2nd monkey's rotation. The 2nd and 3rd batch of monkeys were now put into a bigger cage. However, none of the monkeys attempted to leave the cage. The 3rd batch learned from afar, that if they didn't want to be beaten up by the 2nd batch, they better stayed put. They never noticed the bananas from the start.

After being put in the bigger cage, the 10 monkeys never realized that the bananas and the people who put them in the cage were now gone. When hunger took over, they fought and killed each other. In the end, none was left alive. The funniest thing was none of them made a single attempt to escape the cage.

The best part was, the 1st batch knew the reason they stayed in the cage. The second batch barely knew the reason. The 3rd batch had no idea whatsoever of the 1st reason but followed blindly anyways.

Sounds familiar, politically?

The First Generation builds an empire,

The Second Generation maintains it; but

The Third Generation squanders it all.