Today is the day Winnie the Pooh’s creator, A.A. Miller, was born.
Like Pooh. teddy bears can be a cute source of comfort – or conflict.
Some things are meant to be contained
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That bear. Tousled brown hair that reeked of alcohol, scattered over the floor. The source of intermittent, needless angst in the Lee family for decades. SIbling rivalry. Accusations of bias.
It had been discussed forever, and divided a home it shouldn’t have. It was never just a toy.
A brown polar bear.
Ben Lee finally had enough of drama, petty trifles, and discomfiting sarcasm.
Without anyone’s consent or reopening arguments, Ben carried the bear with the care needed to handle a pipe bomb. He placed it in the storeroom, under lock and key.
Without explanation or thought for any nuclear fallout.
The home responded at once, with a peace that arrived almost too quickly.
But Peace became a permanent resident in the Lee family. Old tensions faded, blending into the white walls of the home. And the Lee family welcomed Him.
Silence doused the Lee dinner table. But it wasn’t the silence of tension or dissent.
It was ordered quiet, one not fused with family drama.
Cecila, Ben’s sister, nudged him quietly. “Those two – ” she tipped her head surreptitiously to their parents – “would have split if that grizzly wasn’t in storage.”
The brown teddy had been the vessel of conflict and chaos. It bore the words that were blades and power it never should have wielded.
Ben nodded, watching his parents exchange huge servings of chicken and prawns.
The bear’s angst remained contained, its symbolism undeserving of space.
Removal wasn’t disposal – it was care. Peace hadn’t come from complete understanding – perhaps it never would.
But distance had ended debate. Choice had invited its presence.
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Original story of Michelle Liew-Kwek Tsui-Lin. AI tags are coincidental.
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