growing up, befuddlements, and other things...

It has been some time since I had a chance to write in this blog. You see, as a teddy bear with a human being to watch over, my work keeps me very busy in a way most human beings may not understand, and watching over my friend Margaret occupies most of my time. 

Perhaps I should explain a few things...

A teddy is responsible for "being there", a thing which most humans do understand. It simply means that even if one is not able to actually do something for another, the knowledge that a friend is close by is enough. I think Margaret has been very glad that I have been there for her because she has been growing up a lot in recent weeks and whether a human being is growing up as a child or doing so as an adult, it is a thing better done with a friend nearby.

I was concerned for her for awhile (teddy bears never worry--we are concerned, you see). There are family issues, matters important to Margaret alone, and matters of the world which have worried her and I have had to remind her of the goodness around her. Sometimes human beings need that, and teddies are very good at offering such reminders. I believe Margaret would have come to see those things in her own time, but I thought it would be nice to help her see those good things a little sooner.

She later told me I did the right thing.

One of the many things in the world of human beings which befuddle me is the way that human beings worry so much--yes, befuddling, indeed. Worry does not accomplish anything and only makes itself worse the more a human being thinks about it. Margaret has told me that worry is sometimes a good thing, because it helps a human being decide how important a troubling thing is before they act upon it. I am still uncertain if I agree with her, but she has told me that is okay, that I should decide in my own time.

In my desire to become real as my hero, Velveteen Rabbit, did, I try very hard to understand how human beings think and that is a very difficult thing to do. They place importance upon things which I do not understand, which do not seem important to me, but Margaret tells me that same befuddlement is shared by many human beings, too. I do not understand unkindness, or the way people hurt each other, or war, or untruthfulness, and apparently a lot of human beings feel the same way, too, and that feeling happens all over the world.

I am only one scruffy old teddy bear, and I realize there are human beings who would not understand a teddy bear's way of looking at the world, but it seems to me that if human beings all over the world would slow down a little, take more notice of each other, sit down once a day with a plate of freshly-baked cookies and a glass of cold milk, and take a nice, long nap every day, that this would be a much nicer place to live for everyone.

That is what I think, anyway.

Now, Margaret is busy and does not need me quite so much today, so I think I shall take one of those nice, long naps. I am a very sleepy bear today.