Guest post: What Winnie-the-Pooh teaches us about resilience and working together

Liz Gadd, one of our members and a regular at The Miracle Inn’s CLUB gatherings, wrote in celebration of Winnie-the-Pooh’s 100th birthday on LinkedIn today. With her permission we are re-posting here, its a great reminder of what resilience is and why it is a ‘we’ thing.

As we celebrate Winnie-the-Pooh’s 100th anniversary, the stories offer wise words about climate resilience...

In one story, Piglet finds himself trapped in his house by rising floodwater. While Christopher Robin is rather enjoying the novelty of living on an island, Piglet is frightened and isolated. The other animals are better able to escape or find shelter by jumping, flying, burrowing, or simply making a lot of noise.

Owl, who as we know likes to show off with big words, is not communicating in a way young Christopher Robin understands and has to translate his “The flood-level has reached an unprecedented height" to more clearly say “There’s lots of water about”.

But Piglet is the one at the sharp end, and in his isolation reflects "I wish Pooh were here. Its so much more friendly with two”, an echo of the importance of collectivism over individual responses. Which Rabbit underlines as a search is organised with “its always useful to know where a friend or relation is”.

A hundred years on, the Hundred Acre Wood still has a few things to teach us about working together. And the importance of making sure Piglet isn't left to deal with the flood on his own and that we all know where a friend or relation is.

P.S. The story also includes some insightful observations about housing inequality as we see homeless Eeyore respond.

Original story: A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), Chapter IX, In Which Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded by Water.

Photo by Liz Gadd - from my prized copy I read with my girls.