We Need Each Other
“Pooh to me doesn’t just profess a philosophy about taking time and making time to just sort of do nothing—meaning doing your favorite things,” says Christopher Robin producer Brigham Taylor during a talk I had with him earlier this week. “He’s also about doing those things together. We always see Pooh not just as a solitary figure, but as someone who is holding the hand of his friend Piglet, or playing with Christopher. It’s about togetherness.”
And so we see in the movie. When Christopher Robin is at his worst—that is, his most un-Christopher Robin-like—he’s alone, either physically or with his thoughts, or trying desperately to be alone. He sometimes actively hides from people—even from the folks he ostensibly loves the most.
But when Pooh finds him, and when Christopher in turn finds he and Pooh’s friends, things turn around. That community, that togetherness, taps something inside Christopher. It brings him out of himself and turns him, ironically, into himself again.
The Bible talks at length about the importance of community and togetherness. “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins,” says 1 Peter 4:8—a verse very pertinent to the heart of Christopher Robin. When we are alone, we lose ourselves. It takes others to help remind us who we really are, and who we should be.
“I’m not a hero, Pooh,” Christopher Robin tells the bear. “I’m lost.”
“But I found you again, didn’t I?” Pooh tells him.
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