Essay, Research Paper: The Tao Of Pooh

What Does Pooh Eat for Breakfast?
"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,"�
said piglet at last, "What's the first thing you say to yourself?"�
"What's for breakfast?"� said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"�
I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?"� said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing,"� he said.
The dialogue above was taken from the book, "The Tao of Pooh"� by Benjamin Hoff. These lines contain an important philosophy. They convey that most people take each day for granted. Every day is given to us free. We decide whether to take advantage of this privilege or not. A day offers so many new things in our lives. However, there are times that we ignore these things. As humans we have several flaws. The biggest flaw being, that we are never satisfied with what we have. We always want to reach for something better. We always seem to ignore the good things that can be fed to our soul. At the same time we forget about the needy people, who have nothing, and ambition for more money, clothes, trips, etc.
"What's for breakfast?"� is a very simple question. It can be interpreted to what we are feeding our minds throughout the day? Every single day has something new that we can attain in our fountain of knowledge. A student in school is provided with different kinds of information. Many students choose to ignore the information and waste their time doing something else. On the other hand there are other young kids and teenagers who do not have this opportunity, who would love to have it. We are blind because there are so many things that are given to us by our parents, friends, bosses, or even teachers. If we would listen closely to what everyone says to us, our minds would be full of opinions from different viewpoints. To some of us it might seem like useless information, but advice from a parent, an event in history from your teacher, or a smart idea from your boss can help in the future. There is always something to learn every single day. If we are smart, we will take advantage of our surroundings. What are we going to have or breakfast tomorrow? We can choose either ignorance or intelligence.
Piglets hope for something exciting implies that we are never pleased with what we have. When we are babies we want a toy, when we are kids we want a bicycle, when we are teenagers we want a car, and the pattern never ends. As humans we will always want more than what we have. We might get to the point where some of us have money, cars, and a family, but there will always be something missing. The rest of the people are poor and want the commodities that the rich posses. People act selfish; they ignore the fact that they are missing an arm, eye or a leg. It is hard for humans to realize what good things they do have rather than the good things that they don't have. "It's the same thing,"� Pooh was expecting the same thing to happen this day. Our days can easily become a pattern. We find ourselves doing the same things over and over each day. There is a time when we become fatigued and go in search of an adventure. It is not that we have boring lives; it is that we can never fulfill our own needs. Many of us have to learn how to appreciate the things that we have. We need to be thankful for the free things in life rather than worrying about worldly materials.
This message was well portrayed in the book. Children are the best example to this philosophy. They ask for so many different things. Typical parents like to spoil them by buying them candy, a toy, or a new Disney movie. At a young age we cannot distinguish what we deserve from what we do not. We want everything whether we are good or bad. Of course, at that time we do not act selfish on purpose, we just want everything that shines. As we grow older, we remain acting like selfish kids. Ambition is not a bad thing to have. It actually helps us become more successful. Unfortunately we come to a point when the ambition controls our lives. We become weak like children and want just about everything.
Humans are very different form each other. We all want different things. One thing in common that we all have is that we are never contented with what we have in our lives. We are aware of the homeless people who would be delighted just to have a new pair of shoes, but most do not care. There are also people born with cripple or with a fatal disease. Human beings should appreciate every little thing. It is up to us to decide what to decide to feed our soul and mind. Lets ask ourselves what we want for breakfast and choose from so many different things. Although, they would not be excited at every instant, our lives are exciting from the day we are born. The dialogue in Tao of Pooh gives out a great philosophy, which is; do not take things for granted. Start appreciating everything that surrounds us.