Last night I was scrolling through my Tivo and came across a Primetime Special on a man named Randy Pausch. This professor at Carnegie Mellon University and father of three was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and given less than 6 months to live. He is well known for his “Last Lecture” which he presented to his students and subsequently has become very popular, downloaded over a million times over the Internet. In this lecture, he told stories about his own life, his children, childhood dreams and advice on how to live our own lives to the fullest. Something that really struck me during his lecture and interview was him saying, “Choose to be a Tigger.. all day everday.” He sure has done this, the best example being how he has remained upbeat and energetic even through a grim cancer prognisis.
If you watched or read Winnie the Pooh as a child, you can easily remember how different Eeyore and Tigger were. Tigger was always happy, bouncing around and reminding everyone of his uniqueness. This sometimes got him into trouble, but it was apparent he always had a zest for life. Eeyore, the old grey donkey was always very sad and down, not expecting anyone to notice him. Because of this he was often alone, even though the other characters really liked him.
Maybe, as Randy Suggests, the differences between these two characters can give us some insight into our own personalities. Sure we may have some tough days and be down like Eerore, but why not go through life upbeat and happy, enjoying every minute and being as active as possible like Tigger? Instead of saying “Oh Well” and “Thanks for Noticing Me” like Eeore, we should celebrate our uniqueness and live by his mantra that we (like Tiggers) “Are wonderful Things!.”
