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Who Moved My Cheese  Term Paper

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¶ … Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson, M.D. $19.95, 94 pp. New York G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1998. Johnson has made up a fable to demonstrate that we will have change in our lives whether we want it or not, and that what is important is how we cope with it. Using two mice and two small men, he shows the readers that it's how we handle change that will decide how happy we are.

In his story, two mice and two small men live in a maze. The mice, named "Sniff" and Scurry," use their animal instincts to help them solve problems. The miniature people are called "Hem" and Haw." They have found a supply of cheese that keeps them all alive, but one day the cheese disappears. The rest of the story tells how the four characters cope with the disappearance of their cheese, which they need to live.

The mice simply go off and hunt for more cheese. Sniff uses his good sense of smell, and Scurry uses his curiosity and high energy to explore and look for new supplies. Hem and Haw, however, are terrified by what has happened and don't know what to do. They stay at the place where the cheese was hoping it will return. Haw notices that the mice have gone looking for more cheese and thinks...

However, Hem wants to stay where he is, even though it no longer gives him what he needs. Finally, Haw tries to reason with Hem. He says, "Sometimes, Hem, things change and are never the same again. This looks like one of those times.
That's life! Life moves on. And so should we."

So Haw starts to hunt for a solution. It's very scary, but he discovers that doing something feels better than doing nothing. He imagines how happy he will be when he finds more cheese, and that keeps him going. He finds more cheese, including some he's never tried before. He likes the new cheese. He takes some back to Hem, but Hem doesn't want new cheese. He wants the old cheese, and he wants it where it used to be. Hem realizes that this isn't a sensible response, and starts writing down the new things he's learning about life after his cheese has been moved, such as, "The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese." He recognizes that although he didn't want his old cheese to disappear, it has, and he has to get on with his new life, and that stubbornly demanding that things be the way they were before just won't work.

Haw…

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