The Russian czar, Nicholas II, was strolling through his palace gardens when he came upon a lonely guard standing at attention in a secluded corner of the garden. “What are you guarding?” asked the inquisitive ruler. “To tell you the truth, O Great Sovereign, I have no idea, but the captain of the guard ordered me to this post,” the sentry replied.
Nicholas summoned the captain and made further inquiries as to what was being guarded. The captain of the guard replied that there were clear written regulations specifying that a guard was to be assigned to that precise corner always, and it had been that way as far as he could remember. The curious czar then ordered a search to find out why.
The palace archives finally yielded the answer. Years before, Catherine the Great had planted a special rose bush in that corner, and she had firmly ordered a sentry to be posted there to guard it, so nothing might disturb or damage it. Now, one hundred years later, even though the rose bush had died long before, sentries were still guarding the now barren corner of dirt, even though no one knew why!
Maybe you’ve experienced something similar at work or in your personal life. We tend to do things out of habit sometimes not reflecting on why we do them a certain way in the first place. Family traditions are sometimes this way.
Nicholas summoned the captain and made further inquiries as to what was being guarded. The captain of the guard replied that there were clear written regulations specifying that a guard was to be assigned to that precise corner always, and it had been that way as far as he could remember. The curious czar then ordered a search to find out why.
The palace archives finally yielded the answer. Years before, Catherine the Great had planted a special rose bush in that corner, and she had firmly ordered a sentry to be posted there to guard it, so nothing might disturb or damage it. Now, one hundred years later, even though the rose bush had died long before, sentries were still guarding the now barren corner of dirt, even though no one knew why!
Maybe you’ve experienced something similar at work or in your personal life. We tend to do things out of habit sometimes not reflecting on why we do them a certain way in the first place. Family traditions are sometimes this way.
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