Is Eeyore Tigger?
03/02/16 05:29
Is Eeyore Tigger? I know that on the surface the question sounds absurd. “Of course not!” you say. Eeyore is a donkey and Tigger is a tiger. Eeyore is a perpetual pessimist and Tigger is not.
You know the story: Tigger shows up on Winnie-the-Pooh’s doorstep in the middle of the night with one big bounce. Despite his claim that he likes everything, most of the rest of the second chapter of “House at Pooh Corner” is consumed with trying to figure out what food Tigger can eat for breakfast. Much to Pooh’s amazement, he doesn’t like honey. He also doesn’t like acorns or thistles or other contents of Kanga’s larder. What tiggers mostly like, it turns out is extract of malt, the “strengthening medicine” that Kanga gives to Roo. That discovery explains why Tigger lives with Kanga and Roo for the rest of the book.
Eeyore, on the other hand, as you know, is not bouncy. He is an old grey donkey, who is prone to losing his tail, of which he is rather fond. His favorite food is thistles and he sees the hundred acre wood as a gloomy place: rather boggy and sad. It is Eeyore’s house that is the house at Pooh corner. It was made for him by Pooh and Piglet after they mistook the house that Eeyore built as a pile of sticks. Eeyore is the only character in the stories other than Pooh who writes poetry and he does a rather good job at that task. When Pooh humbly declares that Eeyore’s poetry is better than his own, “really believing it to be true,” Eeyore vainly replies that “it was meant to be.”
So you can see that they really are quite different.
What they have in common, other than the fact that they are both characters in the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne, is that they are both characters in which children can see a bit of themselves. It isn’t difficult for a four-year-old to identify with an energetic, constantly bouncing character whose excitement stretches the capacities of others. It is equally easy for that same four-year-old to understand the gloomy mood of a different character who seems to see the worst in every situation.
What the books achieve that is only partially achieved by the Disney animations, is the creation of a world where children can experience the full range of the characters’ emotions and in doing so explore their own.
“Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That’s the problem.” A. A. Milne gives us stories in which it is easy to listen. And in listening we can discover fundamental truths about what it means to be a human being in relationship with others. And sometimes, exploring our humanity, we discover that we identify with the moods and characteristics of others around us. “‘I don’t feel very much like Pooh today,’ said Pooh.”
These stories, that my mother read to me, are as wonderful to read to our grandson as they were to read to his father and aunt when they were children. I don’t know if they were read to my parents when they were children, but they are old enough to have been. Some stories are timeless.
I remember a conversation with a classmate, when we had experienced short internships in the Chicago Theological Seminary Lab Preschool, that Martha Snyder, director of the school, had a unique way of talking to children. My colleague found Martha’s slow and deliberate way of talking to be a bit condescending. I pointed out that she spoke the same way to her then 74-year-old husband. Martha didn’t discriminate. She listened intently to everyone, regardless of their age. And she carefully repeated an idea back to the speaker just to make sure that she had gotten it right. It wasn’t that she didn’t have ideas of her own. She most certainly did and she had convictions from which she couldn’t be shaken. She was, however, careful to have always listened and understood the person with whom she was speaking.
I have since heard a similar criticism of Fred Rogers, creator of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Despite that criticism, Rogers received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, forty honorary degrees, and a Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, was recognized by two Congressional resolutions, and was ranked No. 35 among TV Guide's Fifty Greatest TV Stars of All Time. Several buildings and artworks in Pennsylvania are dedicated to his memory, and the Smithsonian Institution displays one of his trademark sweaters as a "Treasure of American History".
Mr. Rogers, Martha Snyder, A. A. Milne: just three of many, many adults who took children seriously. And when you take children seriously, you discover that they are incredibly complex and wonderful beings who have a lot to offer to the world.
“Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."
"And he has Brain."
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."
There was a long silence.
"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
“Just because an animal is large, it doesn't mean he doesn't want kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants as much kindness as Roo.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Which brings us back to the question with which today’s blog began: Is Eeyore Tigger? I think I am both. They are both reflections of who we are. They are different sides of the complex human beings that dwell inside of each of us. And getting to know humans is an essential task of every Christian for we believe in incarnation - that the great God Almighty, creator of the Universe, meets our humanity fully in human form.
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
Which is to say that I think that reading A. A. Milne out loud is a very enriching spiritual discipline. It is how I learned: “Some people care too much. I think it’s called love.”
And on the days when I'm feeling very much Eeyore, it is good to know that there is still a bit of Tigger inside of me.
You know the story: Tigger shows up on Winnie-the-Pooh’s doorstep in the middle of the night with one big bounce. Despite his claim that he likes everything, most of the rest of the second chapter of “House at Pooh Corner” is consumed with trying to figure out what food Tigger can eat for breakfast. Much to Pooh’s amazement, he doesn’t like honey. He also doesn’t like acorns or thistles or other contents of Kanga’s larder. What tiggers mostly like, it turns out is extract of malt, the “strengthening medicine” that Kanga gives to Roo. That discovery explains why Tigger lives with Kanga and Roo for the rest of the book.
Eeyore, on the other hand, as you know, is not bouncy. He is an old grey donkey, who is prone to losing his tail, of which he is rather fond. His favorite food is thistles and he sees the hundred acre wood as a gloomy place: rather boggy and sad. It is Eeyore’s house that is the house at Pooh corner. It was made for him by Pooh and Piglet after they mistook the house that Eeyore built as a pile of sticks. Eeyore is the only character in the stories other than Pooh who writes poetry and he does a rather good job at that task. When Pooh humbly declares that Eeyore’s poetry is better than his own, “really believing it to be true,” Eeyore vainly replies that “it was meant to be.”
So you can see that they really are quite different.
What they have in common, other than the fact that they are both characters in the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne, is that they are both characters in which children can see a bit of themselves. It isn’t difficult for a four-year-old to identify with an energetic, constantly bouncing character whose excitement stretches the capacities of others. It is equally easy for that same four-year-old to understand the gloomy mood of a different character who seems to see the worst in every situation.
What the books achieve that is only partially achieved by the Disney animations, is the creation of a world where children can experience the full range of the characters’ emotions and in doing so explore their own.
“Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That’s the problem.” A. A. Milne gives us stories in which it is easy to listen. And in listening we can discover fundamental truths about what it means to be a human being in relationship with others. And sometimes, exploring our humanity, we discover that we identify with the moods and characteristics of others around us. “‘I don’t feel very much like Pooh today,’ said Pooh.”
These stories, that my mother read to me, are as wonderful to read to our grandson as they were to read to his father and aunt when they were children. I don’t know if they were read to my parents when they were children, but they are old enough to have been. Some stories are timeless.
I remember a conversation with a classmate, when we had experienced short internships in the Chicago Theological Seminary Lab Preschool, that Martha Snyder, director of the school, had a unique way of talking to children. My colleague found Martha’s slow and deliberate way of talking to be a bit condescending. I pointed out that she spoke the same way to her then 74-year-old husband. Martha didn’t discriminate. She listened intently to everyone, regardless of their age. And she carefully repeated an idea back to the speaker just to make sure that she had gotten it right. It wasn’t that she didn’t have ideas of her own. She most certainly did and she had convictions from which she couldn’t be shaken. She was, however, careful to have always listened and understood the person with whom she was speaking.
I have since heard a similar criticism of Fred Rogers, creator of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Despite that criticism, Rogers received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, forty honorary degrees, and a Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, was recognized by two Congressional resolutions, and was ranked No. 35 among TV Guide's Fifty Greatest TV Stars of All Time. Several buildings and artworks in Pennsylvania are dedicated to his memory, and the Smithsonian Institution displays one of his trademark sweaters as a "Treasure of American History".
Mr. Rogers, Martha Snyder, A. A. Milne: just three of many, many adults who took children seriously. And when you take children seriously, you discover that they are incredibly complex and wonderful beings who have a lot to offer to the world.
“Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."
"And he has Brain."
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."
There was a long silence.
"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
“Just because an animal is large, it doesn't mean he doesn't want kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants as much kindness as Roo.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Which brings us back to the question with which today’s blog began: Is Eeyore Tigger? I think I am both. They are both reflections of who we are. They are different sides of the complex human beings that dwell inside of each of us. And getting to know humans is an essential task of every Christian for we believe in incarnation - that the great God Almighty, creator of the Universe, meets our humanity fully in human form.
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
Which is to say that I think that reading A. A. Milne out loud is a very enriching spiritual discipline. It is how I learned: “Some people care too much. I think it’s called love.”
And on the days when I'm feeling very much Eeyore, it is good to know that there is still a bit of Tigger inside of me.