Elephants and Caterpillars

1. There is a caterpillar called the Processionary Caterpillar The thing that distinguishes them from other caterpillars is their amazing interest in following another Processionary Caterpillar around. If you take a bunch of Processionary Caterpillars and place them on the rim of a bowl that has the most favorite food in the world in it, they will begin happily marching one after another around the rim of that bowl until they fall into the bowl, dead of starvation in the middle of their favorite food.
2.

In India when an elephant is very young, they tie a rope around its leg and pound a wooden stake into the ground. The Baby elephant starts walking away but finds that when he gets to the end of the rope he feels a tug on his leg and try as he will he can not go any further. When the elephant gets a little older and has the power to pull out the small wooden stake they put a big chain around his leg and a big metal stake in the ground, so the elephant experiences the same thing he experienced when he was young. When the elephant becomes an adult they put a little rope around his leg and attach it to a small wooden stake and pound it into the ground. The elephant never even tries to get away.

  Often we as humans do exactly the same kinds of things as the processionary caterpillars and the elephants of India of course in a much more subtle and complex way. But not you of course.