A man comes home from work and finds his wife in the kitchen prepairing dinner. As he tells her about his day he is watching her prepare a ham. He notices that she cuts off of the end of the ham, tosses the excess in the trash, and puts the rest of the ham in a roasting pan.
Puzzled at this proceedure he asks, “What’s that for?”. “I’m not sure. This is how my mom used to do it.” is the response from his wife. The man has always loved his wifes cooking so he accepts the response and they go about their evening.
Some time later, the man and his wife are invited to her parents house for dinner. Sure enough, the mother-in-law is making a roasted ham for dinner. The man happens to be in the kitchen and witnesses the same events in the ham preparation.
The end is cut off – thrown away, and the rest of the ham is placed in the pan.
The man asks, “Why do you cut off the end of the ham and throw it away? Seems like a waste.”
The response is the same as his wifes, “I’m not sure. This is how my mom used to do it.”
Fortunately, grandma arrives for dinner. The man decides that he must get to the bottom of this issue. “Grandma, why do you cut off the end of the ham?”
Grandma replies, “well, I don’t know why you cut off the end, but the reason I always cut off the end is because the ham was too large to fit into my pan.”
The moral of this story is that doing something just because it has always been done that way, does not mean that it is the BEST way. You should always ask, “Why? Before cutting off your Ham.”
Michael E. – Author; Conservative blogger - Comments on Politics, the Economy, Congress & the President. Fighting the Liberal Freaks, Michael E. is saving America one blog at a time. 
