Who moved my cheese? by Spencer Johnson is a little story that encompasses an ever-present drawback of a human mindset – resistance to change. There are four main characters in this story: two mice Sniff and Scurry and two little people – Hem and Haw, who are put into a maze and must find their cheese in order to survive. Throughout the whole story, we can observe the unwillingness of Hem to change and look for another source of cheese (Who moved my cheese, p.12), the evolution of thought process displayed by Haw during his quest for finding new cheese (Who moved my cheese, p.20), and realization of change necessity at the very end, presumably by both (Who moved my cheese, p.25).
While reading this story, I was definitely irritated by the idiotic behavior of Hem. In my opinion, that kind of behavior is a perfect example why sometimes people are inferior to animals in the intelligence department. There was literally no reason to sit near the empty station the whole time and wait for the cheese to magically return, considering that the conditions were pretty harsh. In any other situation, Hem’s reasoning for not leaving might actually make sense, but when there is no food left, and it does not appear day after day, just sitting there and refusing to change is equal to digging your own grave.
I was satisfied with the way Sniff and Scurry dealt with that situation, and I think more people should act like that in certain cases. They were not overthinking too much, they acted instinctively. Yes, that way is animalistic in nature, but humans are still partially animals. If you think about it, our greatest achievements and failures come from our mind. It is what differs us from most animals, we can actually think instead of relying on instincts. That thinking, however, often leads to something similar to Hem’s situation. I refer myself more to Haw’s way of thinking, because, naturally, the way of man is the trial of his character strength.
Changes are the necessities of life, but not all changes are easy to accept. From my personal experience, the hardest change for me to accept the fact the girl I loved would never be with me no matter how hard I tried. I was under the impression that the continuous attempts of trying to conquer her heart would eventually result in success, and that lasted like for four years. Deep inside, I knew it would probably never happen, but I still did not want to change my position and still kept going. One day, though, I realized that this leads nowhere and that I must accept things the way they are, change and move on.
Embracing changes is still something I have to improve in my life. Some things are easier to accept, other are not. I always tend to apply logic while considering possible changes, but even changes that are logically better are not always accepted by me. The reason for this is probably because those changes are not better for me in whole. Being conservative on some things might also play a role in my denial of changes. It is always hard for me whenever an important decision should be made, mostly because I always try to consider all pluses and minuses of the decision, and often try to find an alternative.
The way of Haw is definitely not something I would like to go through each time I have to make a decision regarding a certain change, so I think acting like Sniff and Scurry in some cases is the way to go. The less you think about every possible outcome, the more chances you will actually do something instead of just theorizing whether this change is needed or not. This is a double-edged sword, though, so I would not take that path often.
The reason why Hem was resisting the change so much is most likely his unwillingness to struggle. He got spoiled too much during the time he and Haw spent at the station C and actually believed that those who supposedly took away his cheese would give it back someday. Hem was expressing his resistance in “active form” (Resistance to change, p.4) by continuously whining and ranting about how what happened to him was totally unfair. He was also arguing with Haw about the latter’s suggestion for finding new cheese, and his reasoning for not wanting to go deeper into the maze was the expression of fear, the fear of failure and making himself look like a fool as a result.
Haw was resisting the change mostly because of Hem. He still had the same fear as his friend had, but unlike Hem, he was thinking beyond that fear. However, whenever Haw was trying to come up with some sort of solution, Hem’s arguments made him remember that fear, and he agreed about staying at the station. That was an expression of “passive resistance” (Resistance to change, p.5), as even though Haw was going to start searching for the new cheese, he still failed to implement the change because of letting Hem get into his head once more.
The one phrase that especially got my attention was one of the Haw’s writings on the wall made during his search for cheese in the maze – “When you move beyond your fear, you feel free”. I cannot help but stress how true this line actually is. Fear is present in every human, it is a natural part of our thoughts, therefore, there should be no shame in having a fear of something. Some fears are meant to exist inside us in order to protect us from certain dangers. There are some fears, though, that should be fought at some point of life. Fear is like a lock mechanism, and what it locks is our true potential.
Trying to get rid of fear is often a hard task to accomplish, but the relieve you get from it cannot be described by words. Furthermore, getting rid of fear often leads to the change of your character overall. You look differently at things and often realize something that you did not see before. Haw’s mind and thoughts greatly evolved during his quest for cheese, and the reason for that was because he overcame his fears. He started to look at things from a different perspective, and he liked what he saw. When you defeat your fear, you get rid of that mental lock that has prevented you from doing things that would probably affect your life in a good way. Haw was afraid of what could have happened to him in the maze, but he knew that staying at the empty station would not be any better than that.
Reading Who moved my cheese? is definitely an enlightening experience. The story perfectly demonstrates two things that are prevalent in our society: the stubbornness and unwillingness to change, and the natural evolution of one’s mind. For those who are resistant to change, this book will serve an example of what such path may lead to, and for those who will find themselves similar to Haw, it will once again reassure them that changes are natural and should be welcomed.