Michael Helms

Life’s too short to live like Eeyore. Remember Eeyore? He’s that blue donkey in “Winnie-the-Pooh,” technically an Equus asinus, who suffers from an outlook on life that could turn any day of sunshine into a cloudy day. Eeyore’s mood could be mistaken for depression by some.

He’s not depressed. He’s just the ultimate pessimist with a case of poor self-esteem. If I were always misplacing my tail — which was held in place only by a small nail that kept slipping out — I might not feel so good about myself either.

Eeyore is a cheerless soul. He talks like he talks, slowly and unenthusiastically. He’s never excited about anything.

Have you ever tried working with an Eeyore? It’s like trying to swim with an anvil tied around your waist. It’s like trying to walk up a hill while someone’s constantly spraying you with a fire hose. There’s just a huge price to pay in negative energy, which drains all the good you are trying to accomplish.

Eeyore’s personality opposite is Tigger. He’s a tiger, although he’s not quite like any other tiger in the jungle. This orange tiger with black stripes has beady eyes and a long chin. His tail, unlike Eeyore’s, not only stays attached; it’s used for bouncing. “Bouncing” may be the best word to sum up Tigger’s personality, too.

People like Tigger brighten up your day, though they tend to get on some people’s nerves, especially early in the morning, before you’ve had your coffee, or whatever it is that wakes you up. These people seem to bounce out of bed with smiles on their faces and a spirit of optimism that you’d really like to pour cold water on. Either that or discover the secret to their joy.

You must tip your hat to Tigger, though. His cheerful personality brings out the best in people more times than not. There’s an innocence about Tigger that’s appealing. He claims he can fly, jump farther than a kangaroo, swim, and climb trees, although he never offers any proof. He also claims that Tiggers never get lost, which he never does.

Some might say that Tigger doesn’t live in the real world. Maybe he doesn’t. Some might say that he dreams too much. Maybe he does. Perhaps that’s why he’s such a likable character. Most of us see something in Tigger that’s magnetic. We sense that the real world doesn’t have the same effect on him that it does on almost every one else. Either that or he’s learned to react differently from the rest of us. That’s what endears him to us.

Whatever problems he has, he doesn’t allow them to be become embedded in his psyche or control his mood for very long. He maintains his bounce. In fact, without his bounce he wouldn’t be a Tigger, because “bouncing is what Tiggers do best.”

Dr. Randy Pausch is a Tigger. Randy has always been a dreamer. As a child he dreamed of playing professional football, of authoring an article in the World Book Encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk, winning the big stuffed animals at amusement parks, working for Disney, and being in zero gravity.

Last September, Dr. Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., gave a lecture titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” The lecture was a part of a lecture series where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them. They are asked, “Hypothetically, if this lecture were your last, what parting wisdom would you want to leave with the world?”

In Dr. Pausch’s case, this was no hypothetical. At age 46, he had been diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Even after aggressive treatment that included surgery and chemotherapy, the cancer metastasized and his life expectancy was reduced to a few months.

Partly because of the urgency of the moment and partly because of the dynamic optimistic personality that Pausch has been known for, the lecture hall was filled with students and staff in anticipation of what he might say. Since then his lecture has been viewed on the Internet by millions and a book has been written based on his lecture.

During the hour-long lecture, Pausch used humor, slides, surprise, and story to land his points. Perhaps the beauty of the entire evening was the lightness of it all. Here was a dying man, a deeply intellectual man whose parting words went to the core of the human heart and not just to the intellect. He showed his humanness. Yes, he is sad about his condition, but not bitter. In fact, just the opposite. He is still a man living a life filled with joy, excitement, and passion.

Pausch’s simple but profound wisdom included these statements: “Never underestimate the importance of having fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day because there’s no other way to play it.”

“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”

“No one is pure evil. Find the best in everybody. Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.”

“Brick walls are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop people who don’t want it badly enough.”

“We can’t change the cards we’re dealt, just how we play the hand. If I’m not as depressed as you think I should be, I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

Dr. Randy Pausch is a Tigger. Even in the face of death, he’s maintaining a bounce in his step. Has he wept? Has he grieved? Of course. But he’s not in denial. He’s just not going to become an Eeyore. Life’s too short for that, very short.

Victor Frankl was a Tigger. Frankl, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, wrote: “Everything can be taken from man but one thing, the last of human freedom — to choose one’s own attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” (Man’s Search for Meaning) Frankl, though surrounded by some of history’s worst suffering and atrocities known to humankind, chose an attitude that refused to allow his environment to dictate his attitude.

The Apostle Paul was a Tigger. He once wrote to the church at Corinth: “I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.” (2 Corinthians 7:4) Among the troubles he had experienced were beatings, stonings, multiple shipwrecks, dangers from rivers, bandits, his own countrymen, and false brothers. He had labored without sleep and food, been constantly on the move. He had known the discomforts of cold and being deprived of clothing, presumably while he was imprisoned. In addition he also faced the pressure and concern for the churches he had started. (2 Cor. 11:25-29) Yet, Paul’s joy abounded.

And if the Apostle Paul had been present at Dr. Randy Pausch’s final lecture, his favorite line might have been, “If I’m not as depressed as you think I should be, I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

You have a choice today. Will you choose to be an Eeyore or a Tigger?



The Rev. Michael Helms is pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Moultrie.