BOOK REVIEW | WHO MOVED MY CHEESE | SPENSER JOHNSON.
It’s maze time! This is what Haw said and did when he overcame his fear. What would you do if you were not afraid?
Would you change study course? Would you move out of a bad relationship? Would you get into a relationship, you know, tell the girl how it’s been a long night, your thoughts have been running berserk because of love! Would you set up a business? Would you resign? Would you jump off a cliff!
Okay, here is the thing, I am not advocating that you jump off a precipice, you will die my friend, and for such kinds of wacky decisions, fear is good. It prevents you from harming yourself. But, in a large extent, fear stops us from progress, from good things, from better experiences. Fear prevents change.
Change! is one thing everybody likes to refer to when selling their persona. Most like to believe that they do adapt well to change, well until it happens. Either, change catches us off guard or we pretend it doesn’t exist. Then reality hits home.
The book _Who Moved my cheese by Spenser_ has been reviewed as idiotic, childish and lacking in content, it has also been reviewed as life changing, profound and a must read. This small book has elicited varying emotions among readers, while most term the story as a kindergarten read, my friend has read the book 4 times within a period of 13 months. Maybe she is a kid. No, she is a 23-year-old.
The story of who moved my cheese gifts us four little fellows; Scurry, Sniff, Haw and Hem. Scurry and Sniff are Mice, while Haw and Hem are ‘Little People’ the size of mice. All of them survive on cheese, and their kingdom is a maze, a labyrinth of endless corridors and stations.
Their normal day begins with wearing jogging attire and they run along these corridors and passageways looking for cheese. Sometimes, they get lucky, other times they just go home empty handed. One day, all four of them find a cheese station with an immense amount of cheese. They are all speechless.
This station, it seemed, had enough cheese to sustain them for ages, and so, it goes, they would wake up and head to this station daily. One thing the mice did that the clever little people didn’t, was to inspect the cheese every morning before settling to eat. By doing this, the mice would notice any growth of mould or rot or they would assess the quantity remaining.
The little people meanwhile slumped into a comfort zone and they no longer woke up early to visit the station, the cheese would be there anyway. So, they thought.
One fine day, the little people found the cheese gone! Nothing in the station! and Hem did not take this well. He hollered _Who Moved my Fucking Cheese! _ Okay, he didn’t say the F word, but I would imagine it proper. As for Haw, well, this was too much for him, he was speechless.
The mice too earlier that morning had found the cheese gone but they were not surprised. Sniff had always sniffed the rotting parts, and Scurry would rush in first to clear the waste. They knew the cheese quantity was quickly decreasing. That morning, when they didn’t find any cheese, they wore their jogging shoes, Sniff, sniffed the direction of new cheese and Scurry, scurried along first to the pointed direction and Sniff run closely behind trying to keep up.
They begun running through the maze once more, in search of a new cheese station.
The little people, Hem and Haw, with their complicated minds and personal feelings, stayed in the empty cheese station for days, hoping someone would replace the cheese. Tempers were flaring especially from Hem, and he did not want to change the station.
The mice had simple minds hence they kept stuff simple. If cheese ran out in one station, then they looked for a new cheese elsewhere. They moved with the cheese so to say. They approached life on a practical platform.
As for the little people, they felt entitled to the enormous volume of cheese that had run out. No one among them wanted to believe or appreciate their new reality. Change had occurred. The station had run out of cheese.
Haw, was a little bit more receptive, and he noticed the conspicuous absence of their friends; Scurry and Sniff, who by the way _ though the little people were not aware_ had found a new cheese station which had a gigantic amount of exotic cheese varieties, much more than the station where Haw and Hem were still wasting time at. Severally Haw Prodded Hem that they should get out and search for new cheese but Hem gave reasons why the idea was not good.
Reasons of security, futility, starvation on the way, probability, wastage of time, Fatigue, Karma and some other lame stuff. Does Hem remind you of a person you know? Well then, Hem’s comments would discourage Haw and so he stayed put. But one day, Haw thought _ “If I was not Afraid, what would I do?” _ He rose, searched for his Jogging shoes and moved out of the station to go look for new cheese. He shouted to Hem _It’s Maze time! Hem didn’t even move a toe, he stayed put.
At first, it was scary for Haw, but soon enough he began coming across morsels of cheese in some stations. One time, He finds a considerable amount of unfamiliar cheese, which was delicious, and he decides to take some to Hem, who in his emaciation still refuses to accept this kind offer, maintaining that he preferred his old cheese. He refuses to eat a new type of cheese!
Finally, Haw leaves for good, never to turn back, what happens next? Well, a full read would do you some good!
The book is 95 pages long. I mentioned to a friend of mine that, any book 100 pages and below deserves to be called an article! But _Who Moved my cheese_ punches above its weight.
What would I do if I was not afraid? This is a deep question. Chances are that; I would be nowhere near where I am, I would have taken more risks. Combined with sniffing out changes, I would have scurried along fast to look for a new pie. With those two qualities, I would probably have noticed cracks on the wall a long time ago.
The author does us some good, he creates characters at the beginning of the story. High school friends have met for a reunion, and over a drink, they all discover they are not where they wanted to be, mainly because they refused to change along the way, so, one of them, Michael, tells the story.
Later in the evening, and after ‘we’ the readers have listened to Michael tell us the story, the group reconvenes, to discuss who each one of them was in the story, either Scurry, Sniff, Hem or Haw.
They discover some interesting things, change is persistent, change will keep occurring. Do people recognize when its coming? Why do people pretend not to notice change? why are people afraid of change? Why do people loath change yet openly claim it’s a bed mate? Why do people complicate things when change occur? Why don’t people look for a new cheese station almost immediately or even do the foot work before the old cheese runs out?
An interesting bit is where Angela ponders that;
Extract: “Or, perhaps the ‘Old Cheese’ is just behaviour. What we really need to let go of is the behaviour that is the cause of our bad relationships. And then move on to a better way of thinking and acting.”
“Ouch!” Cory reacted. “Good point. The new cheese is a new relationship with the same person”.
Yes, such is the power of Change, even in relationships it prevents break ups and if break ups happen, people simply search for a better new cheese station.
Who moved my cheese, can either be; lessons galore or a stupid childish story that only toddlers would understand. The choice is the reader’s. This book is found in all Inama book shops if you are interested.
To summit, let me close in the words of Angela, a character in the story,
Extract: “As I think about it, I realize change really can lead you to a new and better place, although you’re afraid it won’t at the time.
Thanks to Miss Mbithe for lending me this book. I now understand why you have read it four times within the last 13 months.
Maybe she is a kid. Oh, you wish! She has her eyes set on a cookie Jar of sorts here.
