We can learn a lot from a silly old bear
It’s time we all turn off our phones and listen to a silly old bear.
Though A.A. Milne’s “Winnie-thePooh” books have been around for more than 90 years, the wisdom of its title character has never seemed more necessary than it does today. Thankfully, Disney’s live-action “Christopher Robin” is in theaters, and Pooh Bear (voiced by Jim Cummings) is on the big screen to remind us about what’s important in life.
In short: balloons, honey, silliness, friendship and the present. (There’s a reason a best-selling book has been written about “The Tao of Pooh”: The calm bear unknowingly upholds the basic tenets of the Chinese philosophy about appreciating the natural beauty of things.)
Pooh just is. He loves and he lives without taking a selfie or worrying about FOMO. (Fear of missing out.)
He doesn’t care what he’s missing out on; he’s too enrapt by the present. He extolls that today is “My favorite day. Yesterday, when it was tomorrow, it was too much day for me.”
Yes, he’s clumsy. Yes, he gets sticky food everywhere. Yes, he’s a bear of “very little brain.” But there’s a reason he’s the greatest friend in the Hundred Acre Wood: He never chooses work over caring for his loved ones. He enjoys the sweetness of life without broadcasting his perfect day on social media.
In one Milne story, Pooh stays positive after a day of being stung by a bee, eating too much honey and then getting stuck in his friend Rabbit’s doorway.
He gets out and lands in a hive of honey. Pooh doesn’t need to announce his misfortune. He’s just living joyously.
He makes up a “game” about naming the things he sees from a train window.
The chubby little cub doesn’t need to open an app to help him pretend: “Doing nothing often leads to the very best something,” he declares.
Kids and adults could all benefit from a little more nothing.