Literary review: Spencer Johnson novel
The meeting
On a sunny Sunday, a group of former high school classmates decide to meet for lunch to know a little more about how life have followed. At the time an interesting conversation was generated, Michael, seeing that almost all his former colleagues had a great concern about how to deal with the changes that are generated in any environment of life, decided to tell them a fable that had been taught. at a time when the company where I worked traveled with economic problems.
The fable
The story takes place in a maze where four characters coexist: two sneaking and elusive mice, and two Liliputians, Haw and Hem, with similar characteristics to people: they could think, analyze and interpret. Each of these characters wants to find their cheese;For mice is simply cheese, however, for Liliputians the meaning was different, having cheese meant having security, good health or material things that were important. And so, the search is carried out through the labyrinth. While the mice were guided by their instinct, more precisely because of their sense of smell, the Liliputians did so for their emotions and convictions and this allows them to develop sophisticated methods to find the cheese.
One day they finally found cheese on the cheese warehouse. The Liliputians thought they had secured the cheese supply, established a new routine with less effort, regardless of who had put the cheese there and trusting that they would always be there, they were happy and safe: ‘having cheese makes you happy’. Instead the small mice, which maintained their initial routine, were the first to notice that the amount of cheese decreased day by day and were not surprised when one day the deposit was empty. That’s why they undertook a new search without wasting time. Otherwise, it happened with Haw and Hem, who did not find cheese lame. That is why day after day they returned and continued wondering, until Haw began to think that they might look for cheese in another place, he tried to convince Hem, despite being afraid of the situation he raised, to go out in search ofNew cheese, but I did not understand the reason to do it;He was convinced that he was somewhere and that they had a better search, so they looked for tools and began cutting the walls to find cheese. Search that had no results. Meanwhile, the little mices continued, guided by their smell, touring unknown places.
The "labyrinth" of the narration represents here the time that each one dedicates to looking for what he wants, that is, the "cheese". It can be a job, a relationship, money, freedom, health, recognition, but to achieve it, you have to go for it.
Everyone knows what ‘our cheese‘ we fight to get it, but once we get it we get fond of it and cling, and if at any time they take away that cheese or disappear, the experience can be traumatic.
Finally, after a long search, they arrived at the N cheese tank, prepared to enjoy it without forgetting to be alert if something happens, and they should start over. new. Hem kept asking what had happened. At the same time, Haw began to imagine looking for new cheeses in the maze, cheeses he had never seen before. Motivated by this, despite his fears, he decides to start a new trip in search of new cheese, before trying to convince Hem, who continued to resist the change for fear of abandoning that place. Once Haw made the trip, discovering that something unexpected could happen, he learned about the change and continued his way, finding some cheese that helped him regain strength to continue. He returned, one day, where Hem had to share some cheese and try to convince him again that he was looking for cheese again.
But Hem continued at the station Q asking what had happened and who had brought his cheese. Haw continued on his way in search of cheese again and wrote phrases to motivate Hem and that this should not be lost. Some of the phrases are the following:
- You change or get out
- Move in a new direction helps you find new cheese
- When you stop being afraid,
- You feel phenomenal!
- Imagine enjoying your new cheese makes you reach him.
- The sooner you give off from old cheese, you will find new cheese.
- The changes happen.
- Move with them!
The world we know and in which we live is like a maze with multiple passages: roads that do not lead anywhere, roads that are complicated and branched by giving rise to more paths;long alleys that lead us to different types of cheese, etc.
However, Haw on the road felt disappointed, but did not give up, continued because he had a mission: find new cheese. This was how a new warehouse found, the warehouse where there were varieties of cheese that I had never imagined. It was difficult to find, but it was worth doing it. In that place he found the two little mouses, who received him, Haw remembered Hem and thought how happy he would be if he found new cheese. He tied his shoes around the neck, in case some change occurred, and said the following sentence: Move with the cheese and enjoy it!
Therefore, after describing these 4 personalities, who personify mice and Liliputians, clearly reflect how we behave in difficult situations, such as the one we find mainly in reading, which is what happens to us mainly when they take us out of our state of comfort and cause a break in what we could call a routine, how we behave and how we act and face the situation, this is mainly the problem that implies reading, as we find ourselves, through the characters, in different ways From acting, some get angry, they can frustrate, or see the situation as a negative factor in their lives, which do not dare to abandon, due to the fears that stalk them, but we also find emotions linked to the positive factors, it is To say, when we face this problem, ‘change’, when they cause us a break in our state of comfort and compliance, we can also experiment feel Immes and positive emotions, such as the ones we could detect in the text, one of the characters could see this situation positively, he knew how to take advantage of the opportunity for growth, evolution and development, since, despite the fact that Many do not want, there are always fears or some resistance to change.
The debate
When Michael finishes telling the story, the group, smiling, thanks and comments that they would take advantage of it. Nathan, proposed to meet again before dinner, to, after analyzing it, commenting on a group.
When meeting again, Angela asked everyone ‘What character each one identified each?’
- Carlos commented that before embarking on his sports articles.
- Frank recognized the attitudes of a friend (or perhaps due to his hardness, he did not want to admit that he was himself) in Hem’s, and narrated how his friend refused to admit the changes.Jessica, on the other hand, commented that she had also suffered a "cheese movement", but more precisely in her personal life.
- Nathan, reflected on what happened in his life in recent years and commented that he would have liked having heard the fable much earlier, not acting as he has when his family business had to face changes (before the arrival of new hypermarkets to the city).) and they have been a little more as HAW (or better yet, such as Slippery or Snoopy). -Laura, after staying almost all the time in silence, said that, after reflecting, she began to think how it could be a little more like Haw (realize what she was doing wrong, laugh at herself and improve). He also asked: ‘Which one of you is afraid?’And seeing that only one person raised his hand, he released:‘ Well! At least we have a sincere person. Better ask, who of you think that others are afraid?’And he noticed that everyone raised his hand. ‘That is called denial!’Nathan launched (and Michael approved it), since many times we don’t even realize that we are afraid
Again, Jessica took the floor and said she would try to notice the changes and adapt quickly to them. And in the meantime, he said the problem he had suffered in the company where he worked, which produced an encyclopedia of more than twenty volumes. Someone had suggested covering all the volumes in a single computer disk to optimize it and yet everyone thought it was madness.
Upon hearing this, Laura reflected and commented that perhaps the story of Hem and Haw referred to this when he mentioned the "arrogance of success". They did not realize something that until then had worked very well.
When Frank asked, if they thought that hem would have found cheese, Elaine said yes, however, Cory chose no, based on his experience as a doctor and observing that there are people who never change and pay a high price. price for this. These people believe they have the right to try their cheese and when they take it away, they blame others and feel victims of this and, often, get sick. Upon hearing this, Laura considered that maybe when Haw wrote: "Taste the adventure and move with cheese’, he meant that everyone should move their own cheese.
Michael, who was the narrator and the one who constantly participated in the conversations with Nathan, told how his working life was before listening to the fable and how he applied it in the company where he worked. For a long time, Nathan was disgusted with the amount of work he had and it was after hearing the fable when he realized that he should be the one who tracked an image of the ‘new cheese’ that everyone wanted to achieve (he was directing, noto direct). Then he began asking people with which character in history they identified and found many snopes (capable of detecting market changes and helped update business vision), many slippery (which should be animated, based on thenew vision business). , since they liked to do things), others hem (that thanks to the new vision some could become HAW and those who did not do so, had to be fired) and finally, the HAW (who learned to wait for change and in some casesThey even actively sought it)
Angela said she felt like hem and, nevertheless, she admitted the benefits of thinking with Haw, saying that it is always good to laugh at himself and try to do it.
Richard, who had remained silent and incredulous, hearing all these reflections, said his director always told him that the company needed to change. He understood that what he was trying to tell him was that he had to change. I was happy to have discovered this and thought that wanting to have ‘New Cheese’ could also help him in his relationship with his teenagers, through which he could show them a better image of the future with that new son.
Jessica, Cory and Elena, on the other hand, began to apply the fable, but this time in personal aspects and speaking of their love relationships. They affirmed that they were having a good time and maybe it was because the cheese had already become ‘Old Cheese’. But that not only ‘New Cheese’ would mean a relationship with a new person, but it could also mean a ‘new relationship’ with the same person. This, translated into work, can mean that, if a job is old cheese, new cheese can be a new job or a new way of doing that job.
Becky, taking the post of the conversation, said that, throughout the talk, he began to think and laugh at herself. He recalled that perhaps it had not been a good image for his son of the attitudes he had, since when he moved, one of them suffered a lot of uprooting, but that some time later he adapted.
All began to draw their conclusions and set out to change and try to transmit the fable, both in their families and in their work.
It was there, when Michael told them that this was the type of meetings and conversations that had led their company to improve the vision along with all those involved. In addition, he said that he would have preferred to have heard the story much earlier, since when he did, the company had already begun to decline and fired many people (some, good friends). However, even those who had to leave, understood that it was a change, that it was the best and that there was more cheese outside waiting for someone to find it. They had left their fears behind! On the other hand, those who could stay, now, observing a change, instead of complaining, they only say: ‘They have taken the cheese again, let’s look for the new cheese’ and that takes less waste of time and less stress within the organization.
In general, when the director of a company announces a change, people think it is not a good idea (or directly that it is a bad idea) because they do not want to change or because others think that way and do not want to go into discord.
Michael told everyone that nobody in his company wanted to look like Hem. They wanted to sniff in the changes, detect them in advance and get to work quickly. That, in addition, when observing these good results, they began to transmit them to the people and companies that also did business with them. Leaving that for granted, the more people send this story, the faster the atmosphere and its people will adapt to the changes.
We must all be attentive to the ‘cheese’ movement, so as not to get carried away by false impressions, we must have personality to properly specify our actions, we can all follow the rhythm and the passage that our ‘cheeses’ take, so we need to be cautious andAvoid any change. In our lives, all human beings suffer changes and we have to adapt to the new environment, because in the long run it will be easier to adapt to changes that can be of greater magnitude, satisfactorily we all have the advantage that we get used to any change,As draconian, we get used to.
We must look for new routes, new addresses that lead us to our goal;We must imitate the mouse that came out of the routine and went in search of new cheese. We must bet on change and look for new opportunities, since, if we do not take advantage of them, it could be too late. We must not be afraid of failure, or be insecure of themselves, on the contrary, if we want to achieve our goals, we must overcome these fears and remain firm in our decision to overcome ourselves, thus surpassing any obstacle that we face.
Leave feedback