Suppose there is a fence erected in the middle
of nowhere that’s blocking your path: what do you do? Do you take it down in order to
continue on your way? Or do you first think hard about why it is there to begin with? Chesterton's Fence is a simple rule of thumb
that suggests that you should never destroy a fence, change a rule, or do away with a
tradition until you understand why it’s there in the first place. The principle assumes that fences have a purpose,
were carefully planned, and cost time and money to erect. Someone must have had a reason
for thinking that a fence would be a good idea. So what if we just take them down? Entrepreneur Steve Blank likes to point out
that when startups get their first Chief Financial Officer, the newly hired often wants to show
that they are proactive and cut costs. Some go as far as calculating the expense of the
free snacks offered to employees and then

start charging the staff a small fee. People can, of course, pay, but they don’t
like this change in company culture — and many may quit. As a result, the firm makes
pennies on the nuts but spends thousands hiring new engineers. All because the reformer didn’t
understand the purpose of the policy he axed. A more tragic example of misguided reform
was China’s so-called Great Leap Forward, which lasted from 1958 to 1962. One of
its initiatives was the Four Pests Campaign to eliminate all mosquitoes, flies, rats,
and even sparrows that were suspected of stealing grain from the fields. And so millions of people hit noisy pots and
pans to prevent sparrows from resting, with the goal of causing them to drop dead from
exhaustion. Some simply shot the birds down from the sky. Others destroyed their nests
and broke their eggs. The campaign worked and pushed the Chinese
sparrow population to near extinction. So

what about the unintended consequences? With no sparrows to eat them, locust populations
ballooned, swarming the country and compounding the problems caused by other reforms. The
consequence was the Great Chinese Famine, one of the largest man-made disasters in human
history, with a death toll in the tens of millions. Perhaps all those who want 
to break with traditions,  or reform norms, should learn to recite this short line from philosopher F. K. Chesterton's
original 1929 writing: “In the matter of reforming things, as distinct
from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle.” Let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a
fence or gate is erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes up to it
and says, 'I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away.' To which, the more intelligent
type of reformer will do well to answer:

'If you don't see the use of it, I certainly
won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that
you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.” What do you think? Is Chesterton's defense
of conservatism a good rule to live by? Or do you also need people to break down old
structures even if they don’t fully understand why they were built in the first place? Share
your thoughts in the comments below! If you like how we explain complicated ideas
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Chesterton Fence: Don’t Destroy What You Don’t Understand!

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