Once upon a time in a beautiful little county with neighboring villages, Local Leaders decided it might be a good idea to occasionally eat together and talk about things they had in common and were working on.
The rules of the kingdom decreed this was good, but to ensure it was fair only two Local Leaders from each village were allowed to go to these gatherings. Since the gatherings rotated when or where or what time they were held (and more Local Leaders wanted to go), sometimes other Local Leaders just happened to show up than what the rules of the kingdom decreed.
Maybe the Local Leaders felt the villagers wouldn't notice or that it was a bad rule to begin with. Perhaps some Local Leaders didn't trust their fellows to really tell them what was said at these gatherings, and so they went anyway. Maybe some of the Local Leaders said they weren't really true leaders of their village (and so didn't count as one of the two), and they could go anyway. If they didn't go, they never knew what was talked about -- until sometime later when one of the villages was having its own meeting, and new information would suddenly just pop up. This would make the Local Leaders who hadn't gone feel silly for not knowing anything about the matter beforehand. And none of the Local Leaders (real ones or otherwise), liked being made a fool of or feeling silly.
And these gatherings continued, moving from one time to another, from one village to another and trust among some Local Leaders was built, and jokes and food shared. Most of the time, everyone departed from these gatherings feeling good and believing they were doing great things for their own villages (even though they weren't really doing anything but talking and eating, in accordance with another decree).
At one of these meetings, a Local Leader was saying he was sad because some of his villagers weren't happy -- they had told him why, but he thought they were not very bright and didn't understand the important work he was doing as a leader. This gave him headaches and it was getting to where it was actually becoming rather bothersome.
Another Local Leader, who had even more experience leading, smiled knowingly and said he had a way to avoid "those types" of headaches. "Just ignore them," he sagely stated.
Yet another Local Leader, who had the most experience leading (who kept his villagers happy by telling them whatever they wanted to hear without really saying anything at all), nodded. In the very unusual circumstance where your very important leadership or fancy village meeting halls didn't scare troublesome villagers away (and ignoring them hadn't worked because they were just that dense), a Truly Wise Leader could simply pretend to listen. A Truly Wise Leader would even act like they were trying to do something, and then everyone would see -- when even a Truly Wise Leader couldn't get anything done -- it was actually, and in fact, an impossible task! The biggest headaches could be Taken Up with A Purpose, but gradually shifted to an attic to collect dust and become memories, he reasoned.
All the Local Leaders at the gathering thought this was indeed profound advice, and thanked their fellow while proclaiming him A Truly Wise Leader. They left the gathering feeling happy and full of wisdom.
The villagers, however, were in fact brighter than imagined. They understood Local Leaders believed they always knew everything simply because they were leaders. They realized Local Leaders sometimes said one thing, but did another. They saw Local Leaders follow some of the decrees, and forget about others (sometimes even their own). They grasped the fact that some tasks where made more difficult than they needed to be, while others were moved toward the attic with the Local Leaders hoping these would be forgotten. Sometimes the villagers wondered if the Local Leaders enjoyed being a Leader more than they loved their beautiful little villages.
And so it went for quite some time, with the Local Leaders ignoring or pretending to be listening. When they absolutely had to do something they acted, as if trying, to do The Most Difficult Things (but failed religiously), or gradually shifted other Bothersome Things into the attic.
The villagers, because they were not dense, were talking amongst themselves, too (there were decrees allowing this). And they continued to talk with their Local Leaders (who generally seemed to have headaches or smiled and nodded a lot). Things the Local Leaders couldn't or wouldn't do, the villagers gradually worked on -- because they really did love their little villages and wanted them remain beautiful forever and ever.
So as it came time to decide who the new Local Leaders would be, all the villagers (who were bright), made changes -- one by one, each and every time they could. The villagers, you see, were determined to live happily ever.
~ The End