You And Winnie The Pooh

For the last few weeks, I’ve been addressing how to have a healthy, forward-looking response to the problems people face. This week, I'd like to share a real-life story about a soldier in World War I who went through hell and found his way forward by writing a book for his son, and for many of us as well. The following article was originally published on PJ Media.

This coming October 18, 1926, is the 100^th anniversary of the publication of Winnie the Pooh by author A.A. Milne. While many people now associate the stuffed “hunny”-loving bear with Disney, the character was born of a World War I veteran’s struggle to recover from the war and relate with his little son.

What does Winnie the Pooh, his popped balloon, and his failed intrusion into a beehive have to do with one of the most devastating battles of WWI? And how did a teddy bear help a traumatized veteran heal emotionally and psychologically while creating a special bond with his young son?

Alan Alexander Milne joined the British military at the outbreak of the First World War and, in 1915, was commissioned an officer in the 4th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, with the Royal Corps of Signals, according to Military.com. In just one August 1915 incident, when his commanders ignored Milne's warning of enemy movements, 60 British men died in a brief clash. 

Ultimately, Milne went to fight in the Battle of the Somme, accurately described as "Hell on Earth." Interestingly, the Somme influenced the creation of both Middle-earth (by J.R.R. Tolkien) and Winnie the Pooh, as two British soldiers tried to cope with the horror through writing fiction.

The first day of the Battle of the Somme was bloody to the point of nightmare. Britannica states that the offensive cost over a million lives altogether, 420,000 for the British alone. For context, British casualties for all of WWII were around 450,000, meaning the Somme alone rivaled the Second World War for deaths. Milne lost many of his closest friends, according to Military.com. Milne himself was wounded.

This is the backdrop of A.A. Milne's post-war projects. He had a wife, Daphne, and a new civilian life, but he was still dealing with what we now call PTSD. Then, in August 1920, Daphne gave birth to Christopher Robin. Milne became a doting and absorbed father, and to connect with his little boy, he invented marvelous stories about the child's stuffed animals.

Winnie the Pooh wasn't just a stuffed animal, though. At the London Zoo, Milne and Christopher Robin found a black bear named Winnipeg, who had been a mascot for the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WWI. Milne and Winnipeg were veterans, and both were a little shy of strangers. Milne loved the bear, and so did his son. So, in honor of Winnipeg, Milne bought Christopher Robin a yellowish-brown teddy bear.

That teddy bear helped Milne explain to Christopher Robin why he sometimes reacted strangely to ordinary noises. Popped balloons and buzzing bee swarms triggered scared reactions in Milne, who had flashbacks to battles and bullets, sometimes startling the little boy. Military.com notes that Milne built these fears into the Pooh stories, helping explain in a childlike way why a person might find popped balloons or bee swarms alarming. Now, Pooh has been in print for a hundred years.

The Pooh stories and their cast of characters, including Piglet, Eeyore the donkey, Rabbit, Tigger the tiger, Owl, and Kanga and Roo, are charming tales for little children. They have been immortalized and passed to new generations through Disney movies. Yes, they were certainly funny bedtime stories from a loving father to his son. But they also represent the path that WWI veteran A.A. Milne took to healing and peace.

Milne’s predicament was about as severe as predicaments get, yet this PTSD survivor took a sad song and made it better. During incidents like this, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by everything that has happened or is happening. It's only natural to withdraw like the retractable point on a ballpoint pen.   

John Ortberg addressed the hopelessness of times like those in Milne's stories and others. “Just as there is a condition called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome," he wrote, “researchers are now talking about Post Traumatic Growth.” One line of thinking is that people's adversity can lead to growth. Another line of thinking is that the highest levels of personal growth cannot be achieved without adversity. It may be that adversity leads to growth in a way that nothing else does. 

I like that term – Post Traumatic Growth. That's what happened to A. A. Milne. What happens in us, not to us, is the main issue. There are heaps of lessons in this story. First, be thankful for what you have. Be creative and innovative. Think differently and positively during hardship. When life gives you one hundred reasons to cry, show life and yourself that God gave you a thousand reasons to smile. Then start putting the pieces of your life back together again. 

To summarize, consider this Bible verse: “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; God will never let you be pushed past your limit; God will always be there to help you come through it.” I Corinthians 10:13.

Just think, with God's help, you might be the next type of A. A. Milne, who wrote Winnie the Pooh; P.L. Travers, who wrote Mary Poppins; Beatrix Potter, who wrote Peter Rabbit; J. M. Barrie, who wrote Peter Pan; or a Paul McCartney to a 5-year-old, Julian Lennon. All their stories for children came from sad songs that made them, and their authors, better. So don't be afraid. Thank you, Britain!