It wasn't long before Hem and Haw regarded the Cheese they found at Cheese Station C as their cheese. It was such a large store of Cheese that they eventually moved their homes to be closer to it, and built a social life around it.
To make themselves feel more at home, Hem and Haw decorated the walls with sayings and even drew pictures of Cheese around them, which made them smile. One read:
PREVIOUSCONTENTNEXT
? Dr. Spencer.Johnson
Having Cheese Makes You Happy
Sometimes Hem and Haw would take their friends by to see their pile of Cheese at Cheese Station C, and point to it with pride, saying, "Pretty nice Cheese, huh?" Sometimes they shared it with their friends and sometimes they didn't.
"We deserve this Cheese," Hem said. "We certainly had to work long and hard enough to find it." He picked up a nice fresh piece and ate it.
Afterwards, Hem fell asleep, as he often did.
Every night the little people would waddle home, full of Cheese, and every morning they would confidently return for more.
This went on for quite some time.
After a while, Hem's and Haw's confidence grew into the arrogance of success. Soon they became so comfortable they didn't even notice what was happening.
As time went on, Sniff and Scurry continued their routine. They arrived early each morning and sniffed and scratched and scurried around Cheese Station C, inspecting the area to see if there had been any changes from the day before. Then they would sit down to nibble on the cheese.
One morning they arrived at Cheese Station C and discovered there was no cheese.
They weren't surprised. Since Sniff and Scurry had noticed the supply of cheese had been getting smaller every day, they were prepared for the inevitable and knew instinctively what to do.
They looked at each other, removed the running shoes they had tied together and hung conveniently around their necks, put them on their feet and laced them up.
The mice did not overanalyze things.
To the mice, the problem and the answer were both simple. The situation at Cheese Station C had changed. So, Sniff and Scurry decided to change.
They both looked out into the Maze. Then Sniff lifted his nose, sniffed, and nodded to Scurry, who took off running through the Maze, while Sniff followed as fast as he could.
They were quickly off in search of New Cheese.
Later that same day, Hem and Haw arrived at Cheese Station C. They had not been paying attention to the small changes that had been taking place each day, so they took it for granted their Cheese would be there.
They were unprepared for what they found.
"What! No Cheese?" Hem yelled. He continued yelling, "No Cheese? No Cheese?" as though if he shouted loud enough someone would put it back.
"Who Moved My Cheese?" he hollered.
Finally, he put his hands on his hips, his face turned red, and he screamed at the top of his voice, "It's not fair!"
Haw just shook his head in disbelief. He, too, had counted on finding Cheese at Cheese Station C. He stood there for a long time, frozen with shock. He was just not ready for this.
Hem was yelling something, but Haw didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to deal with what was facing him, so he just tuned everything out.
The little people's behavior was not very attractive or productive, but it was understandable.
Finding Cheese wasn't easy, and it meant a great deal more to the little people than just having enough of it to eat every day.
Finding Cheese was the little people's way of getting what they thought they needed to be happy. They had their own ideas of what Cheese meant to them, depending on their taste.
For some, finding Cheese was having material things. For others, it was enjoying good health, or developing a spiritual sense of well-being.
For Haw, Cheese just meant feeling safe, having a loving family some day, and living in a cozy cottage on Cheddar Lane.
To Hem, Cheese was becoming A Big Cheese in charge of others and owning a big house atop Camembert Hill.
Because Cheese was important to them, the two little people spent a long time trying to decide what to do. All they could think of was to keep looking around Cheeseless Station C to see if the Cheese was really gone.
While Sniff and Scurry had quickly moved on, Hem and Haw continued to hem and haw.
They ranted and raved at the injustice of it all. Haw started to get depressed. What would happen if the Cheese wasn't there tomorrow? He had made future plans based on this Cheese.
The little people couldn't believe it. How could this have happened? No one had warned them. It wasn't right. It was not the way things were supposed to be.
Hem and Haw went home that night hungry and discouraged. But before they left, Haw wrote on the wall:
PREVIOUSCONTENTNEXT
? Dr. Spencer.Johnson
The More Important Your Cheese
Is To You The More You Want To Hold Onto It
The next day Hem and Haw left their homes, and returned to Cheese Station C again, where they still expected, somehow, to find their Cheese.
The situation hadn't changed -- the Cheese was no longer there. The little people didn't know what to do. Hem and Haw just stood there, immobilized like two statues.
Haw shut his eyes as tight as he could and put his hands over his ears. He just wanted to block everything out. He didn't want to know the Cheese supply had gradually been getting smaller. He believed it had been moved all of a sudden.
Hem analyzed the situation over and over and eventually his complicated brain with its huge belief system took hold. "Why did they do this to me?" he demanded. "What's really going on here?"
Finally, Haw opened his eyes, looked around and said, "By the way, where are Sniff and Scurry? Do you think they know something we don't?"
Hem scoffed, "What would they know?"
Hem continued, "They're just simple mice. They just respond to what happens. We're little people. We're smarter. We should be able to figure this out."
"I know we re smarter," Haw said, "but we don't seem to be acting smarter at the moment. Things are changing around here, Hem. Maybe we need to change and do things differently."
"Why should we change?" Hem asked. "We're little people. We're special. This sort of thing should not happen to us. Or if it does, we should at least get some benefits."
"Why should we get benefits?" Haw asked.
"Because we're entitled," Hem claimed.
"Entitled to what?" Haw wanted to know.
"We're entitled to our Cheese."
"Why?" Haw asked.
Because we didn't cause this problem," Hem said. "Somebody else did this and we should get something out of it."
Haw suggested, "Maybe we should stop analyzing the situation so much and just get going and find some New Cheese."
"Oh no," Hem argued. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
While Hem and Haw were still trying to decide what to do, Sniff and Scurry were already well on their way. They went farther into the Maze, up and down corridors, looking for cheese in every Cheese Station they could find.
They didn't think of anything else but finding New Cheese.
They didn't find any for some time -- until they finally went into an area of the Maze which they had never been before: Cheese Station N.
They squeaked with delight. They found what they had been looking for: a great supply of New Cheese.
They could hardly believe their eyes. It was the biggest store of cheese the mice had ever seen.
In the meantime, Hem and Haw were still back in Cheese Station C evaluating their situation. They were now suffering from the effects of having no Cheese. They were becoming frustrated and angry and were blaming each other for the situation they were in.
Now and then Haw thought about his mice friends, Sniff and Scurry, and wondered if they had found any cheese yet. He believed they might be having a hard time, as running through the Maze usually involved some uncertainty. But he also knew that it was likely to only last for a while.
Sometimes, Haw would imagine Sniff and Scurry finding New Cheese and enjoying it. He thought about how good it would be for him to be out on an adventure in the Maze, and to find fresh New Cheese. He could almost taste it.
The more clearly Haw saw the image of himself finding and enjoying the New Cheese, the more he saw himself leaving Cheese Station C.
"Let's go!" he exclaimed, all of a sudden.
"No," Hem quickly responded. "I like it here. It's comfortable. It's what I know. Besides, it's dangerous out there."
"No it isn't," Haw argued. "We've run through many parts of the Maze before, and we can do it again."
"I'm getting too old for that," Hem said. "And I'm afraid I'm not interested in getting lost and making a fool of myself. Are you?"
With that, Haw's fear of failing returned and his hope of finding New Cheese faded.
So every day, the little people continued to do what they had done before. They went to Cheese Station C, found no Cheese, and returned home, carrying their worries and frustrations with them. ~They tried to deny what was happening, but found it harder to get to sleep, had less energy the next day, and were becoming irritable.
Their homes were not the nurturing places they once were. The little people had difficulty sleeping and were having nightmares about not finding any Cheese.
But Hem and Haw still returned to Cheese Station C and waited there every day.
Hem said, "You know, if we just work harder, we'll find that nothing has really changed that much. The Cheese is probably nearby. Maybe they just hid it behind the wall."
The next day, Hem and Haw returned with tools. Hem held the chisel while Haw banged on the hammer until they made a hole in the wall of Cheese Station C. They peered inside but found no Cheese.
They were disappointed but believed they could solve the problem. So they started earlier, stayed longer, and worked harder. But after a while, all they had was a large hole in the wall.
Haw was beginning to realize the difference between activity and productivity.
"Maybe," Hem said, "we should just sit here and see what happens. Sooner or later they have to put the Cheese back."
Haw wanted to believe that. So each day he went home to rest and returned reluctantly with Hem to Cheese Station C. But Cheese never reappeared.
By now the little people were growing weak from hunger and stress. Haw was getting tired of just waiting for their situation to improve. He began to see that the longer they stayed in their Cheeseless situation, the worse off they would be.
Haw knew they were losing their edge.
Finally, one day Haw began laughing at himself. "Haw, haw, look at us. We keep doing the same things over and over again and wonder why things don't get better. If this wasn't so ridiculous, it would be even funnier."
Haw did not like the idea of having to run through the Maze again, because he knew he would get lost and have no idea where he would find any Cheese. But he had to laugh at his folly when he saw what his fear was doing to him.
He asked Hem, "Where did we put our running shoes?" It took a long time to find them because they had put everything away when they found their Cheese at Cheese Station C, thinking they wouldn't be needing them anymore.
As Hem saw his friend getting into his running gear, he said, "You're not really going out into the Maze again, are you? Why don't you just wait here with me until they put the Cheese back?"
"Because, you just don't get it," Haw said. "I didn't want to see it either, but now I realize they're never going to put yesterday's Cheese back. It's time to find New Cheese."
Hem argued, "But what if there is no Cheese out there? Or even if there is, what if you don't find it?"
"I don't know," Haw said. He had asked himself those same questions too many times and felt the fears again that kept him where he was.
He asked himself, "Where am I more likely to find Cheese here or in the Maze?"
He painted a picture in his mind. He saw himself venturing out into the Maze with a smile on his face.
While this picture surprised him, it made him feel good. He saw himself getting lost now and then in the Maze, but felt confident he would eventually find New Cheese out there and all the good things that came with it. He gathered his courage.
Then he used his imagination to paint the most believable picture he could -- with the most realistic details -- of him finding and enjoying the taste of New Cheese.
He saw himself eating Swiss cheese with holes in it, bright orange Cheddar and American cheeses, Italian mozzarella and wonderfully soft French Camembert cheese, and…
Then he heard Hem say something and realized they were still at Cheese Station C.
Haw said, "Sometimes, Hem, things change and they are never the same again. This looks like one of those times. That's life! Life moves on. And so should we."
Haw looked at his emaciated companion and tried to talk sense to him, but Hem's fear had turned into anger and he wouldn't listen.
Haw didn't mean to be rude to his friend, but he had to laugh at how silly they both looked.
As Haw prepared to leave, he started to feel more alive, knowing that he was finally able to laugh at himself, let go and move on.
Haw laughed and announced, "It's MAZE time!"
Hem didn't laugh and he didn't respond. Haw picked up a small, sharp rock and wrote a serious thought on the wall for Hem to think about. As was his custom, Haw even drew a picture of cheese around it, hoping it would help Hem to smile, lighten up, and go after the New Cheese. But Hem didn't want to see it.
It read:
PREVIOUSCONTENTNEXT
? Dr. Spencer.Johnson
If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct
Then, Haw stuck his head out and peered anxiously into the Maze. He thought about how he'd gotten himself into this cheeseless situation.
He had believed that there may not be any Cheese in the Maze, or he may not find it. Such fearfiil beliefs were immobilizing and killing him.
