Summary+-+That+sort+of+Pooh

=**Summary :)  **=

This chapter starts with Pooh's song. Hoff states that Everyone is //special//, and //useful//. But not matter how Useful we may be, sometimes it takes us a while to recognize our own value. To make this lesson easier to understand, the book talks about the Stonecutter story.

Once upon a time, there was a stonecutter, who wanted to be a powerful and rich merchant. He suddenly became a merchant, but after being a merchant, he wanted to be a high official; then he wanted to become the sun, then the cloud, then the wind, and then the stone. After he changed into a stone, he believed he was the most powerful man, or thing, in the world. But then he saw a stonecutter, and realized that the stonecutter can easily break him into pieces.

In this story, the stonecutter was not being appreciative of who we was, and kept on desiring to become a more powerful figure. Eventually, he ended up being a stone, believe that he was powerful than anything else. But soon he realizes a stonecutter, which was himself in the = = beginning, can easily break down the stone.

Hoff believes that in order to take control of our lives and to = = accomplish something that lasts forever, people should have //faith// in themselves and learn how to //Believe//. To give an example, Hoff wrote about Buckminster Fuller and Thomas Edison. In both stories, people believed in themselves and took a chance to become successful.

There are also stories about Piglet getting rescued, and Roo getting rescued. The book tells us that these two Rescue stories brings us to 'one of the most important terms of Taoism' which is //Tz'u//. This means "caring" or "compassion". In //Tao Te Ching//, Lao-tse named //Tz'u// as his first treasure and wrote that courage comes from caring. Hoff then wrote that wisdom also comes from caring, and people without compassion has no wisdom. They can have knowledge, and perhaps cleverness too, but not wisdom.

The last important point of this chapter would be that everyone can be happy when they enjoy life and make use of who they are, but some don't. It is never 'they can't'. In the book, Pooh bought boxes of shoes that he does not really need. Pooh's friends told him to take them back, and Pooh says that he saw a lot of people trying to buy happiness and importance like he did. Hoff says that 'people always try to buy happiness and importance in the same sort of way, but one can be happy and important without doing that.'

Here is a song by Pooh

"The more it snows (Tiddely pom), The more it goes (Tiddely pom), The more it goes (TIddely pom) On snowing"

This shows the 'Tiddely-Pom Principle' or the 'Snowball Effect'. When you push a snowball down along, it gets bigger and bigger until it becomes so big that it is impossible to stop it. Hoff argues that this principle can work both negatively and positively. But the important thing is "to make it work for yourself and for the benefit of others, or face the Ugly Consequences" If you work with the 'Tiddely-Pom Principle', you can also use respect to build Respect.

"Do you want to be really happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you've got. Do you want to be really miserable? You can begin by being discontented. As Lao-tse wrote, "A tree as big around as you can reach starts with a small seed; a thousand-mile journey starts with one step" (on the accelerator... that was a joke Mr. Osterweil.. =_=) Wisdom, Happiness, and Courage are not waiting somewhere out beyound sight at the end of a straight line; they're part of a countinuous cycle that begins right here. They're not only the ending, but the beginning as well. The more it snows, the more it goes, the more it goes on snowing." (pg 137)

I believe that in this chapter, this is the most important paragraph that has all the ideas mentioned in this chapter. Lets all appreciate who we are, and what we've got !