Early in 2003, just as my former employer was getting all excited about how many American technologists they could lay off in favor of hiring those who were reported to be better and smarter in almost every way over in that little part of the world to which Columbus thought he was heading, my manager “suggested” that I read a certain tome with which many in my field have undoubtedly become familiar, Who Moved My Cheese? Allow me to get one thing said at the outset: I get it. Or at least I think I do:
When life dumps a mess in your lap, don’t just sit and stare at it. Get up, change your trousers, and move on.
Perhaps that’s a bit simplistic, but I believe that it encapsulates the message accurately. There were the 2 mice, the 2 tiny men (how very imaginative, Dr. Johnson), the “maze”, the “cheese”, and the mysterious force that evidently held sway over the cheese’s whereabouts. Those were the major players, as I recall. The lesson to be learned? Don’t be like the little men — be like the mice, who, seeing their predicament, mindlessly trudged on in search of new cheese, never stopping to consider what may have become of the original cheese stores or what its disappearance might foretell about the state of the maze. (All right, I’m not altogether sure that the good doctor had that exact message in mind, but make no mistake — the mice are definitely the role models the wiser of the 2 little fellows decides to emulate.)
