The Tale of Pythonia

Developers, gather round for I am about to tell thee a story. A story of a far away kingdom, great kings and their affairs. No dragons included.

With special dedication to William L. Thomson Jr.

Once upon a time, in a far away kingdom of Gentoo there was a small state called Pythonia. The state was widely known throughout the land for the manufacture of Python packages.

The state of Pythonia was ruled by Arfruvro the Magnificent. He was recognized as a great authority in the world of Python. Furthermore, he was doing a great deal of work himself, not leaving much to do for his fellow citizens. He had two weaknesses, though: he was an idealist, and he wanted Python packages to be perfect.

Arfruvro frequently changed the design of Python packages manufactured by his state to follow the best practices in the art. Frequently came to the neighbouring states edicts from Pythonia telling their citizens that the Python package design is changing and their own packages need to be changed in 6 or 12 months, or just new packages that broke everything. So did neighbouring states complain to Pythonia, yet Arfruvro did not heed their wishes.

One day, Arfruvro re-issued yet another broken set of Python packages. The uproar was so great that the King Flamessio of the Empowered State of Qualassia decided to invade Pythonia. He removed Arfruvro from the throne and caused him to flee the state. Then, he let the citizens of Pythonia elect a new king.

The new king was a fair and just ruler. However, he stayed in the shadow of his predecessor. The state was no longer able to keep up with the established standards, and the quality and quantity of Python packages decreased. When the progress demanded reforms, nobody in the whole kingdom was capable of doing them. In fact, nobody really knew how all the machinery worked.

At this point, you may think that the state of Pythonia would have surely fallen without Arfruvro. However, it eventually rose again. The old directions were abandoned and major reforms were done. Many have complained that the Python packages are changing again. However, today the state is shining once again. Many citizens are working together, and many of them have the knowledge to lead the state if necessary.

The moral of this story is: it does not matter how great deal of work you did if it is not self-sustainable. What matters is what you leave after you. Arfruvro did great deal of work but Pythonia fell into decay when he left. Today Pythonia is no longer dependent on a single person.

Disclaimer: the characters and events in this story are fictional. Any resemblance between the characters in this story and any persons is purely coincidental.

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