Who Moved My Cheese

By Shyamala Johthi P Tambusamy Pillay

TITLE

Who moved my Cheese

AUTHOR

Spencer Johnson

PUBLISHER

G.P. Putnam’s Sons

SYNOPSIS

Who Moved My Cheese? is a short, light-hearted parable about change. The book starts in the real world where a group of friends meet up for a drink. During their drinking session, one person mentioned that he was told a helpful story to cope with change and preceded to share the story with the rest of the group. The story follows the journey of four characters – two mice named Sniff and Scurry and two little people who are the size of mice named Hem and Haw – who live in this large twisting maze. They have to constantly find cheese to survive. They eventually found a ton of cheese in one spot that looked like it was going to last them a lifetime and decided to spend a long time there enjoying the cheese. There was huge difference between the mice and the little people, the two mice where always vigilant. They were never complacent with the amount of cheese they had and maintained their daily routine of waking up early and going to the cheese. They kept track of the cheese supply and were ready to find new cheese if the cheese disappears. On the other hand, the little people were complacent and content with their find. They established routine around their daily intake of cheese and even moved their homes closer to the cheese and slowly got arrogant. They showed off their cheese and bragged about it. They took it for granted and they did not even notice when the cheese got smaller and were devastated when they realised that the cheese was gone one day. The story then details on how the four characters handle this change and what they do about it. After the story, the book then shifts back to the friend’s conversation as they discuss what they have learned and how they can apply the principles to their own lives and current situations.

INTERESTING POINTS TO PONDER

In this book the author explains how change is inevitable and everything in this world is always in a state of constant change. Man cannot control change itself but he can control how he responses to it. The author cleverly explained ways of tacking life’s changes. Even though the book was written using simple English and easy to understand phrases, the message can have far-reaching effects on our lives.

The core story consists of four characters – two mice and two little people – who live in a ‘maze’. The maze is a metaphor for the world itself, whether it be the world at large, or one’s own personal world consisting of one’s family and community. The names given to these characters do reflect on the different types of people. The two mice are Sniff and Scurry and little people. Hem and Haw.

Cheese represents all that they live for and long to have in life so that they can be happy and contented. Metaphorically, cheese represents what we want in life — it could be a career, it could be a relationship, it could be wealthy, health or spiritual well-being. The story shows the two mice adapting better and faster to change, whereas the two little people, a representation of the human race, with their complex brains and thought processes, end up complicating things. The implication is obvious. The faster we learn to adapt to change and utilise it to our advantage, the better served we will be. 

OPINION AND RECOMMENDATION

This book has been in my collection for a long time now and I have read this book countless times. With the current pandemic, I felt that this book has very appropriate messages that are very relevant to each and every one of us. Each time I read this book, I have a different take on the word ‘change’. This time around, change is very much relatable to the term ‘new normal’ that we have to adapt to. Behaving like the mice is the obvious choice but it is easier said than done. We have to learn to adapt to the change and use it to our advantage and it will benefit us in the long run. We need to understand that change will happened no matter what. We can choose to be happy by adapting to it quickly or be miserable by refusing to change and being stuck in our old habits. I would highly recommend this book to anyone including young readers who wants a light read with a powerful message.