I remember going to the zoo a few years ago and seeing a tiger in a huge enclosure who kept walking back and forth on a path of just a few meters. The tiger never left that path. It was just a constant back and forth, back and forth. My guess is that the tiger was previously locked into a much smaller cage, and then the zoo had built a large beautiful enclosure and transferred the tiger into it, but the tiger had been used to the small cage for such a long time that he kept tracing the steps that he had taken there his whole life, day in, day out.
I think that is a very powerful image, because it can be the same for humans. If I am used to a certain way of doing something for many many years, and then I am given new opportunities that are completely different, it is possible that I have no idea how to use these opportunities. No matter how beautiful this new world is, no matter how much I might have wished for a greater degree of freedom, I might end up not recognizing these opportunities as useful. I might think that they are silly or even dangerous. After all, I did well enough in my old cage.
When trying to give someone new opportunities that give them freedom beyond what they are used to, it is important to understand that they might be locked in their own Caged Tiger Syndome. It is important to have empathy and to understand that what is “common sense” to you is not necessary common sense to someone who has been stuck in a cage for way too long.
AgileEvangelist 