Your best friends retire to Florida. You are phased out after 25 years of faithful service to an institution. The stock market takes a downturn. A family business is squeezed out by a huge conglomerate. Change is inevitable.
Disappointments are inevitable.
Especially in a world like ours. If you want to have a happy life, you have to accept the frustrations of the inevitable. Johnson's book tells a simple parable that reveals profound truths about change. The four lived together happily munching until one day calamity struck. They grew weak and discouraged.