The most damaging phrase in the language is: “It’s always been done that way.”

 -Rear Admiral Grace Hopper

Once I read a story about five monkeys: “What Fools Can Learn From Apes.” The story goes:

“Start with a cage
containing five monkeys. In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put
a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs
and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the
stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water.

“After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result — all the 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, turn off the
cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new
one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To
his horror, all of the other monkeys attack 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 and replace it with a new one. The
newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer
takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Again, replace a third
original monkey with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs and
is attacked as well. Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea
why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are
participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

“After replacing
the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys which have been
sprayed with cold water have been replaced. Nevertheless, no monkey
ever again approaches the stairs.

“Why not?

“Because that’s the way it’s always been around here.”

It’s really
funny; how we follow the way things have been done always without
asking ourselves why or what can be done to improve it. Why are we
afraid of change? Is there an internal feeling inside each of us to
stop us from daring and attempting to reach out for what we really
want? Are we afraid of the cold water?

Think with me; isn’t this what is really holding us back from realizing our full potential and making our dreams come true?

Why don’t we have the courage to change?