It's time for the obstacle course race!

Competitors are allowed to use any tools they wish to assist them in emerging victorious, from ropes for scaling the rock walls to helmets for protection. They are only able to bring a limited amount of tools, so as to make the obstacle course a challenge, but the event is still enjoyable provided the tools you bring work together.

However, among the array of tools lays a very heavy metal chain. What purpose could this chain serve? It would only slow the participants down, and rope can do everything it can without being as heavy. The only advantage the chain holds is being stronger, but given that the rope is strong enough to hold a human up, there doesn't seem to be any practical purpose for the chain.

Then the competitors come upon a gigantic canyon in the obstacle course. It's huge, imposing, and downright impassable. The only way to overcome this would be to use the heavy metal chain to pull a tree down and use the tree as a bridge. Anyone who didn't bring the chain has immediately lost, and packs up to go home. Future obstacle course runners are now being forced to bring a chain with them, giving up another more versatile piece of equipment. Now the contestants have to sacrifice their sneakers or their helmets to run the chain.

Annoyed and unable to enjoy the obstacle course, the competitors go to the obstacle course designers and request that the giant canyon be removed from the course, giving the contestants more freedom in their choices of tools and not being forced to carry the heavy metal chain. The designers agree, and the obstacle course is significantly more fun again.

Watching the scene unfold is an outsider. While he does not partake in the obstacle course, he goes to a beginner's rock climbing wall at the rec center every so often. "What a bunch of fools these contestants are!" remarks the observer, laughing. "The heavy metal chain is a clear way to bypass the canyon, yet they refuse to use it!"