In four years of college, the most important thing I did was
read Winnie-the-Pooh. My saying this will surprise
many of you, and it is with no small shame that I admit it. How,
you ask, could I have made it through childhood, and all the way
into college, without reading Winnie-the-Pooh?

Thus begins Sam Torode’s excellent 2000 article entitled “Lessons from a Bear of Very Little Brain” reprinted in a recent edition of Boundless webzine.

The title immediately captured my attention.  I have always had and will forever have a soft spot for all things Pooh.  I tolerate the Disney versions and chuckle at their release of “Classic Pooh” materials.  The real Pooh was born in the mind and imagination of A.A. Milne, visualized in the drawings of E.H. Shepard and brought to life in the melodies my father invented to sing Pooh’s hums to.  More than three decades removed from those wonderful days I can still close my eyes and hear his voice and see his animated face as he sang “Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie, a fly can’t bird but a bird can fly… Ask me a riddle and I will reply…Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie…” 

Among my most prized possessions are two worn out little books. Winnie The Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.  My father read to me and my siblings many, many times from these books.  I read to my children from them.  One day I will pass them on so my children can read to their children from them.

Winnie and Piglet and Tigger were my entry into a world of literature.  They would be followed by Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, by Icabod Crane and Sleepy Hollow.  As a teenager I would be caught up in the world of Middle Earth and Narnia.  With each passing year I am more and more grateful for my father introducing me to the world of books.  Those two little volumes began a lifelong love affair with books that happily my children have been caught up in as well.  Both of them are avid readers.  My daughter’s bookshelves are running over with books crammed everywhere.  It’s a mess.  And I couldn’t be more proud.

Torode tells of growing up differently:

When my
grandparents reminisce about childhood, they recall the tales of
Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm, and books like
Treasure Island and The Wizard of Oz. When
my contemporaries reminisce about childhood, they recall
episodes of Sesame Street and The
Smurfs, or G.I. Joe and Transformers.
For us, the classics of children’s literature were largely usurped
by television.

I make my living in the video communication business.  I love technology.  I am amazed at how technology has changed our lives for the better.  I am amazed that I can sit in a swing on my deck (as I am doing right now) with a wi-fi enabled laptop and write something that in a few minutes can be read by anyone anywhere in the world with a computer and an Internet connection.  But for me nothing can ever or will ever take the place of a great book, thanks in no small part to a Silly Old Bear.

Read Torode’s entire article here.