Who Moved the Cheese Presentation

7/31/2019 Who Moved the Cheese Presentation

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Who Moved the Cheese? Meditations on Change

I was the guest speaker at the Panhandle Writers Conference and presented this speech along with music

and a PowerPoint presentation.

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Who Moved My Cheese? Is a story about change that takes place in a Maze where four amusing

characters look for Cheese- Cheese being a metaphor for what we want to have in life whether it is a job,

a relationship, money, a big house, freedom, health, recognition, spiritual peace, or anything else you can

think of. * Each of us has our own idea of what cheese is, and we pursue it because we believe it makes us

happy. If we get it, we often become attached to it. And if we lose it, or its taken away, it can be traumatic.

The maze in the story represents where you look for what you want: the community you live in, the

relationships in your life, your work environment.

The four imaginary characters depicted in this story- the two mice named Sniff and Scurry and the 2 little

people named Hem and Haw- are intended to represent parts of ourselves. Sometimes we may act like Sniff

who sniffs out change early or Scurry who scurries into action. Sometimes we may act like Hem who

denies and resisits change as he fears it will lead to something worse or Haw who learns to adapt over time

when he sees that changing leads to something better. Like these characters, we all share their

characteristics and something in common: a need to find our way in the maze and survive, even succeed in

changing times.

Music: The Times They Are a Changing Bob Dylan

There are many types of change that a person encounters at one time or another in their life. There is

personal change as we re-invent ourselves and re-define our priorities ever so often. There is change when

people enter our lives and when they exit our lives. We may change our belief system, our priorities, our

residence, our friends. We change our diet, our style, our jobs, and we may even have a change of heart.

There is change all around us as well. Political change, paradigm change, financial change, and cultural

change. If you think about it, we are changing right now with every moment that passes because we are in

constant motion.

Change happens in an instant- It is in that moment you turn right or left and out of the darkness-out of

the fog- you are blind-sided, never knowing what hit you- never seeing it coming- until you look around

and the entire landscape of your life is suddenly different. Fortunately, it does not happen with such high

drama in most cases.


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In Kafkas bookThe Metamorphosis, Edgar Samsa awoke one bright morning to discover he had

changed into a 6 tall cockroach overnight while he was sleeping. I have always feared that kind of

transformation. I have resisted change all my life-choosing rather to hold tenaciously to the familiar than to

risk the unknown. But sometimes change comes whether you welcome it or not. Although man may enjoy

free will for the most part, I believe there are times when things beyond our control come along and we

become mere victims of fate, tossed about tempestuously by cruel destiny.

Change is eternal, perpetual, immortal. It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar to embrace the

new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. In movement, there is life, and in

change, there is power. This sounds like reason enough to let go of the old and embrace the new, but

sadly, this takes people out of their comfort zone. They say that you cannot achieve what you cannot at first

visualize. Many people simply cannot envision anything else except what they know from their personal

experience. And we must acknowledge that it is difficult if not impossible to force change on the

unwilling. When I used to work with impaired individuals who were chemically dependent, I discovered an

interesting and alarming statistic. If they had admitted themselves for treatment, there was a good chance

for recovery. However, if they had been committed against their will, the rate of recidivism was nearly

80%. I think this illustrates the challenge that change presents. It is difficult enough for the willing, and

nearly impossible for those who are unwilling. People can only hear you when they are moving toward

you, and they are not likely to respond if you are pursing them. Even the best words lose their power when

they are used to overpower.

I have been an educator for over two decades and this collective experience has brought me to several

conclusions about change or the lack thereof. There are really two areas worthy of examination. First of all,

why students are afraid to grow, learn new ideas, and let go of things that dont work well and secondly,

why public schools and our leaders in education refuse to reform the current system and initiate the

changes that would make schools an actual place of learning instead of a political quagmire of

unaccountability and failure.

Epictetus: It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows. Even though he was

born a slave in Hierapolis in the year 55 AD, Epictetus held that all human beings are perfectly free to

control their lives. From a fundamental distinction between our ability to think or feel freely and our lack

of control over external events or circumstances, Epictetus derived the description ofa calm and
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disciplined life. Many people think they know everything they need to know and refuse to open their minds

to anything new or different. Perhaps we have all been guilty of that at one time or another.

Gloria Steinem: The first problem for all of us is not to learn, but to unlearn. One ancient

philosopher and the other an esteemed contemporary sage, these words of wisdom demonstrate the

reluctance to change not only on educational levels but in all areas of society. Politicians, educators, and a

myriad of other policy makers hold true to the status quo regardless of how antiquated or ineffectual they

may be.

In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully

equipped with a world that no longer exists. One example that comes to mind is the way we have

consigned our public schools to the role of police and rote memory mongers bound to meaningless

standardized tests. Students are not given the tools or the inspiration to become independent thinkers with

higher level thinking abilities. They cannot assimilate and transfer classroom learning to their own lives

and certainly are incapable of applying it to the social and political problems that challenge our world

today. Schools often proclaim that one of their missions is to create lifetime learners. Sadly, as curriculum

is dumbed down and instruction is centered on performance on standardized tests, students become

apathetic, reluctant learners who retain little and have no clue how to use what they do remember. Teachers

should be careful to connect all classroom learning to authentic, real life so that students will see the value

of the learning and become more invested in the process.

One of my major contentions about public school is that it demands such conformity and such

uniformity that students are not free to develop or discover a passion for knowledge. All too often, students

are not rewarded for original ideas or free thinking. Some schools have addressed this problem and crafted

innovative ways to remedy it, but far too many have not. It is more comfortable to create a homogenized

product that has no individual characteristics.

Anais Nin: [pronounced "ana-EESE neen"] prolific French writer once remarked When we

blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.

Life is a process of becoming-a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is they

wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.

So if learners inherit the earth, we could all be in trouble. It is also suggesting that one must continue to

learn, to adapt, to be actively engaged in the process of acquiring new knowledge because if you ever reach

the place where you feel you have achieved a level of wisdom that is adequate or self-sustaining or
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