HAPPY NATIONAL WINNIE-THE-POOH DAY, SILLY OLD BEAR!

Do you remember your first love?  That special someone you wanted to be with every minute of the day, someone who made you feel unconditionally loved, who comforted you, and provided constant companionship? Well, I do. It was Pooh Bear. That’s right, Winnie-the Pooh, that “tubby little cubby, all stuffed with fluff,” that “willy-nilly silly old bear.”

Pooh Bear came into my life on my 4th birthday, as neighborhood friends sat in a circle on the grass under the weeping willow, wearing homemade paper plate hats adorned with pink crêpe paper flowers. I remember tearing open an oddly-shaped birthday present to find the trademark yellow Pooh Bear sporting his classic red shirt with the cursive “Pooh” sewn across the front. 

Little would Pooh Bear know that he would spend the next fifty years in the company of that little girl, be passed down and loved by the next generation, and sit in the laps of hundreds of public-school students, listening to them learn how to read. Such has been the happy life of this silly old bear. So, it is with a full heart that I wish my well-worn bear a Happy National Winnie-The-Pooh Day on January 18th.

On August 21st of 1921, a little one year old boy named Christopher Robin also received a bear on his birthday. Edward was the name of his bear, later to be renamed, Winnie-the-Pooh.

It wasn’t until Christopher Robin and his father, A.A. Milne met a black bear named Winnie, in the London Zoo, that his father had the idea of writing stories for his little son. A.A. Milne published Winnie-the-Pooh in 1926 and The House at Pooh Corner in 1928.

The real Winnie was an orphaned black bear cub caught by a trapper in Canada. She was bought for $20 by a cavalry veterinarian named Harry Colebourn in 1914. The name Winnie was inspired by the veterinarian’s hometown of Winnipeg, Canada. He raised Winnie, who became the beloved mascot of his regiment. Winnie even slept under Colebourn’s bed. When Colebourn’s unit was deployed to France during World War I, Winnie was sent to live in the London Zoo. She was so tame and well-behaved that patrons of the zoo were allowed to enter her cage and feed her by hand. Among these regular visitors at the zoo, was young Christopher Robin.

If you haven’t read A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh yet, please carry on the one-hundred-year-old tradition. You will delight in the witty banter and the tender friendships of Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. You might even pick up some of Pooh’s playful sayings such as, “Oh, bother!” or “The smallest things take up the most room in your heart,” or one of my favorites, "Love is taking a few steps backward, maybe even more…to give way to the happiness of the person you love.”

On this National Winnie-The-Pooh Day, it would behoove us to look at the world through Pooh’s shiny black button eyes. Here are 10 lessons we can learn from Pooh Bear:

1.     Use simple common sense.

2.     Be ready with a bit of poetry to share; it keeps things light when the world becomes too dark.

3.     Be a composer, ready with a song to hum to lift one’s spirits.

4.     Keep in shape, honey is yummy in the tummy; but it’s important to keep up with your daily “up, down, and touch the ground” morning routine.

5.     Check up on your friends regularly. Some friends, like Eeyore, might get a little blue at times, so pop in and see them.

6.     If you are feeling grouchy, a little snack or taste of honey will put you in a sweeter mood.

7. Be kindhearted; go out of your way to help a friend in need.

8. Be humble; sometimes you need to listen to the wisdom of a mentor, like Christopher Robin.

9. You don’t have to be the smartest person in your “Hundred Acre Wood,” sometimes it’s better to have the biggest heart.

10. Be huggable; soft and cuddly is often the best medicine.

Thank you, Pooh, you silly old bear, for your gentle example of love and friendship. To quote your own words, "If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you."

 Lauri Cruver Cherian, Published in The Facts January 18th, 2023