Two little mice named Sniff & Scurry &
Two little people named Hem & Haw
All four are living in a maze
Looking for cheese every day.
Soon they all find cheese,
They spend days savoring it in ease.
But how long would it last?
On one rough dawn, cheese was gone.
Sniff & Scurry, Hem and Haw,
All were astonished and were in awe.
But Sniff & Scurry, with their little simple brain,
Said, lets move on and find cheese again.
However, Hem & Haw, with brains like us…
Hem broke down, felt stuck and made a big fuss
Haw felt disheartened, but soon started over.
Are you wondering who are Hem/Haw… Scurry…? Well, they are the characters from one of my favorite stories.
You must have heard & experienced that change is inevitable. And sometimes, you must have found yourself indecisive, troubled and lost around it. This is exactly what Hem & Haw felt when their cheese disappeared from the maze.
Above poem is actually a rephrase of a brilliant parable by Dr. Spencer Johnson, author of “Who moved my cheese?”.
As I happened to re-read the book recently, I found some simple yet valuable reminders for myself. I am sure this story & lessons it teaches can resonate with you all as we all come across the situations where our cheese keeps moving.
In author’s words, ‘we should learn to anticipate the change.’
In Dr. Johnson’s story, Sniff and Scurry represent simple minded people. Hem and Haw represent complex minded people. All four of them found happiness in cheese and when the change occurred (cheese was gone), they all reacted differently.
Sniff & Scurry with their simple thought process, translated the situation as ‘no cheese? Okay, lets find new one’.
As aptly said by the author, we must,
‘Adapt to Change Quickly: The Quicker You Let Go of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese!’
Otherwise, we often find ourselves stuck & anxious.
Likewise, in the parable, Hem & Haw (given their complex mind), were deeply troubled. Hem blamed Haw for the despair. Everyday both continued to visit the same spot for cheese & became sad and depressed with time. They were stuck at the question ‘Who moved my cheese?’.
As we often do, Hem & Haw as well just failed to monitor the change. We must remind ourselves of ‘Smelling the Cheese Often So We Know When It Is Getting Old’.
Fortunately, Haw pondered over the situation and recognized that he must change.
Haw then proposed Hem that they should search for new cheese.
But Hem being comforted by his old pattern & frightened of the unknown, disregarded Haw’s proposal.
So, Haw alone abided by the mantra ‘Change, Move with The Cheese’.
Haw was disheartened to see Hem in denial and wanted to show direction to Hem.
With care he wrote to Hem “If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct” – with a hope that one day Hem will come to an acceptance. Haw then mustered the courage & marched into unknown just to find new cheese at the end of his adventurous journey.
Haw did find cheese again and it is still a mystery if Hem changed with the time…
It might be really hard for most of us to be like Sniff and Scurry. But certainly, we can be inspired by Haw. What do you think?