omp and Circumstance

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

The citizens of Lilliland liked all of the events and parades that the Baron would schedule to honor visiting dignitaries. Some of the people began to feel that there were just too many parades and special events to entertain all of the visitors whom the Baron invited to Lilliland. It seemed that every few days a new diplomat or head of state would be the guest of honor at the Lilliland Castle and a parade was required.

All of the citizens of Lilliland were expected to stop what they were doing to attend the parade and wave at the visitor. Out came the horse-drawn carriages and the marching band, the castle guard and all the other pomp and circumstance desired by the Baron to show the guests that everyone in Lilliland was very glad to see them.

As a result, the citizens felt that they were not getting their jobs done with all the interruptions for the parades and other related events.

A special group of Lilliland citizens met with the Baron. The crops needed to be harvested, the cows milked, the bread made by the baker, the sewing done by the seamstress and tailor, and a hundred important different jobs completed to keep Lilliland looking presentable. The group asked the Baron to determine what an appropriate number of parades would be in order for the citizens to keep up with their jobs. The Baron realized that he had been having nearly one parade a week. The parade would take the worker away from his or her job for an hour or two.

The citizens asked the Baron to limit holding parades to one a month, except in months that had a special holiday such as Christmas, Easter, or Octoberfest.

Everyone liked the idea of having just the right number of parades to keep everyone happy in Lilliland.