The Terminal.
There’s a reason for why I seldom read best sellers. Bestsellers are read and understood and appreciated by a wide range of people. Different as they are, when they come to an agreement on a specific idea, they tend to overestimate the power of the so-called “Universal Truths”。 What they failed to keep in mind is that all truths are only true when applied to their own functional limits. It is the same thing with Newton’s law of motion: When it comes to submicroscopic movements, the law no longer applies. That’s when Einstein’s theory of relativity gets in the picture. What I’m trying to say is that there is no such thing as “universal truth” and certainly no “the right way to do things” either; especially in the way we live our lives.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Johnson only told us about how to live a successful life, instead of just “how to live”。 Though definitions of success vary, most would agree that wealth and power and spiritual wellbeing meant success. Thus, in this story, the two simple rodent-brained mice and little people are metaphors of man. Imagine our life in a maze, and our ultimate pursuit is to find as much Cheese as possible. Finding Cheese would be what we are made for, and it’s all we’ll ever do. We may develop intelligent strategies on finding more cheese quicker, easier. But if that’s what life is—to find cheese of one’s own taste, then life sucks I must say.
One thing I didn't quite get straight was this: After we’ve found our cheese, what next? Should we just sit there, enjoy and wait for another ridiculous change that is supposed to “enrich your life”？ I mean, face it, the only thing changes can enrich is your pain, anger, agony. Changes are like the invincible god grabbing away what you have earned. And telling people to enjoy change, cherish change, “change with the change” is nothing but feeding us with empty spoons.
Everything comes down to one conclusion: Men are so used to having control over everything they possess or everything that goes on with them that when suddenly one day change takes place, they come up with a “life rule” or rather “life game” trying to explain the unexplainable. The author definitely tried very hard to make sense of all this, if ever possible.
But not hard enough to convince me.
I hate it when people tell me how to live my life, what attitudes I should have towards life, because life is just a time scale where you be yourself and forget your earns and losses. I can say without regret that I am responsible for my decisions, even if I chose for whatever reason to stay at Cheese station C, I am not a failure. Because I think the biggest failure one can meet is to give up on what he wants to do and does what others told him that would make him “successful”。
Enough with the stereotypical talk. Let’s get down to the point: I don’t approve the whole Cheese story. I think it sucks. I know people will put on pitiful faces and tell me I’ll understand the “truth” sooner or later, but so far I’m an antagonist.
CHANGES ARE PAINFUL. LIVE WITH IT. DEAL WITH IT. IT WILL SOON BE PART OF YOU.
And by the way, pain is good for your soul. Truths are only aspirin, not shortcuts to your “Cheese dream”。 Because the sooner you get to the exit of this maze, the shocker you’ll be to find emptiness awaits.
极地之北 点评