It’s time we all turn off our phones and listen to a silly old bear.
Though A.A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh” 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 version of “Christopher Robin” is in theaters now, andPooh Bear (voiced by Jim Cummings) is on the big screento remindus 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. (That's fear of missing out, for the uninitiated.)
Hedoesn’t care what he’s missing out on; he’s too enrapt by the present. In a voice that's the equivalent of a warm blanket, 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'sthe greatest friend in the Hundred Acre Wood:He never chooses work over caring forhis loved ones. He enjoys the sweetness of life immensely without broadcasting his perfect day on social media.
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In one Milne story, Pooh stays positive after a day of gettingstung by a bee, eating too much honey and then getting stuck in his friend Rabbit’s doorway.
If overindulging in the most delicious food there is means getting stuck, then c’est la vie, right?
He gets out, eventually. And lands in a hive of honey. "Sometimes when I go somewhere and I wait, somewhere comes to me" is a Poohcredo.
Pooh doesn’t need to announce his misfortune or joke about how chubby he is. He’s just living joyously and singing about it.Indeed, he has a song about how he’s “short, fat and proud of that.” He’s not being sarcastic. When hesays he stretches to "improve my appetite,"he only accidentally sounds like a meme. He doesn't need Instagram likes.
Pooh asks Christopher Robin (played as an adult by Ewan McGregorin "Christopher Robin")to buy him a red balloon, because it makes him happy. And because he know it will make others happy, despite not being the most utilitarian toy. As usual, Pooh is correct.
He makes up a “game” about naming the things he sees from a train window. In the books, he plays"Poohsticks" bydropping sticks into the waterand watching them reach shore.
Remember when children used to unselfconsciously play like that? Before they worried about being documented on YouTubeandSnapchat?
The chubby little cub all stuffed with fluff doesn’t need to open an app tohelp him pretend. In fact, he does quite the opposite: “Doing nothing often leads to the very best something,” he declares.
Kids and adults could all benefit from a little more nothing.
