某一天，在某场地里出现了一头大象。大象的突然出现并不让人惊奇，甚至有的人还可若无其事的过日子。大象开始成了一个问题，是某天大象拉屎之后开始的。虽然清除大象的排泄对清洁工来说只是例常的工作而已，但是大象拉屎的次数频繁和其影响范围之巨让问题扩大。臭气熏天的场地开始令人无法容忍。随之而来的是清洁工的工作量开始升高，而原本若无其事过日子的人也开始投诉那 “臭” 的问题。

当然，”臭” 其实只是症状而已。真正的问题却是那头大象为什么出现在场地里。庞大的象，当然妨也碍了交通，甚至也对场地里的建筑构成了威胁。而这时负责交通舒畅和建筑管理的人却推卸责任和互相指责。建筑部认为，如果交通部门的路能好好的引导大象，建筑结构本身其实根本没有问题。而交通部门却认为，如果建筑没有阻挡着大象，那大象当然就不会故意去攻击建筑物。但双方似乎不觉得真正的问题是这头大象为什么会出现在场地里，而真正和最简单的解决的方法就是合力的把大象弄走！就算他们对大象无能为力，至少也应该找出可以把大象弄走的人吧？

就在这头大象已经把清洁工弄得焦头烂额的时候，又有另外一头大象出现了。这头大象给某建筑的人带来了很多不便，而主要的问题却是围墙阻挡了大象的去路。当有人建议开个洞让大象出去的时候，场地的保安政策却不允许围墙有任何的变动。

每个人或者部门，基本的方针就是自扫门前雪。完全不允许别人对自己的工作和范围有任何的建议和疑问。就算只是建议或者疑问就被认为别人在恶意攻击自己了！如果是批评的话，后果肯定不堪设想。

结果呢？场地里的大象越来越多，而拉的屎更是堆积如山！在场地里面的人无言忍受着痛苦，而清洁工们更苦不堪言。而领导的有什么解决的方法呢？别说了，唉！

The Elephant Story

One day, an elephant appear in a compound. The appearance of the elephant is not shocking, as some people can still go on with their lives as if it was never there. It start becoming a problem, after the elephant start shitting. Although clearing the elephant’s excretion is only part of the cleaner’s routine, the frequency of the elephant’s shitting and the area that it affected caused the problem to expand. The stench became intolerable. Following which, the workload of the cleaners start to increase, and even those people who would otherwise not notice the elephant starts complaining about the stench.

Of course, the stench is only a symptom. The real problem is why the elephant is even in the compound at all. A large elephant would naturally obstruct traffic, and pose a threat to structures in the compound. Yet at this time, those who are responsible for smooth traffic and structure maintenance refused to bear responsibility and blamed one another. The structure maintenance felt that if the traffic control department has guided the elephant properly, there is no issue with the structure’s integrity. But the traffic control department felt that if the structures were not in the way of the elephant, then the elephant will not deliberately attack the structures. Both sides seem incapable of understanding that the real issue is the elephant being in the compound, and the easiest way to resolve the issue is to get the elephant out! In fact, even if they cannot do anything about the elephant, shouldn’t they at the very least find out who can do so ?

While this one elephant has already put the cleaners in a terrible bind, another elephant appeared. This elephant caused a lot of inconvenience to the people of a particular structure, and the real cause is that the compound wall was in the way of the elephant. Someone suggested to open a hole to let the elephant out, but the security policy does not allow any changes to the compound perimeter.

It is clear that every person and department’s basic policy is to hoe one’s own row. They allow no suggestion or queries in their respective roles and responsibilities. And just merely suggesting or questioning would be considered as a malicious personal attack! I shudder to imagine the consequences if it had been criticisms.

The end result? More and more elephants are now in the compound, and their excretion pile up into little hills! People in the compound suffered in silence, and the hardship of the cleaners are beyond words. What about the leadership’s solution? It’s better not to say! *sigh*