There was once a town in the middle of the country called Greendale.

It was an old football town with a long history. Greendale had been been reigning State Champions for the past 5 years, and had won numerous champions dating farther back than most residents could remember.

Recently, a new mayor had been elected to the town. This mayor was determined to make some big changes.

He wanted to get rid of everything that was a relic from the past. Bring Greendale into a new age!

Hitching posts that travelers used to tie their horses to were ripped out. Horses were a rare sight these days.

An abandoned saloon was refurbished and turned into a modern motel. They had more tourists than ever these days.

A fence that surrounded Greendale High and its football field was demolished. It didn’t do anything but make it difficult for residents to watch the games anyway.

Mr. Mayor patted himself on the back for a job well done. He had successfully brought Greendale into the new century!

The next afternoon the team showed up to practice and… the field was COVERED in geese.

Hundreds of them. Their droppings were everywhere.

Turns out, Greendale High used to have a geese problem due to the location of their field. A problem that had been solved decades ago by a mayor named Chesterton.

He had a simple solution: put up a fence to keep the geese out. A solution that worked so well, they called it Chesterton’s Fence.

The new mayor learned an important lesson that day. Before you remove anything, it’s best to understand why it was there in the first place

It’s very rare for people to build things for no reason at all.