A new young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other
monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand. He notices,
however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the
original manuscript.
So, the new monk goes to the abbot to question this, pointing out that if
someone made even a small error in the first copy, it would never be picked
up. In fact, that error would be continued in all of the subsequent copies.
The head monk says, "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but
you make a good point, my son". So, he goes down into the dark caves
underneath the monastery where the original manuscript is held in a locked
vault that hasn't been opened for hundreds of years.
Hours go by and nobody sees the old abbot. So, the young monk gets worried
and goes downstairs to look for him. He sees him banging his head against
the wall.
His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably.
The young monk asks the old abbot, "What's wrong, father?"
With a choking voice, the old abbot replies, "The word is celebrate."
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