Don’t Despise What Is Good  

When I first saw the image online advertising an upcoming movie, I thought it was a joke or a poor attempt at satire. However, I later discovered differently after seeing an article about the production and even watching the first trailer to be released. It was real. Normally, I wouldn’t have given a second glance at something promoting another awful, gory, slasher film, but it’s the violent villains portrayed in this movie who got my attention. It’s not the infamous Michael Myers or Freddie or Jason or any other such killers from past horror flicks. No, the evil duo terrorizing people in this film are Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. I’m not kidding. Apparently, the copyright protecting the use of those beloved children’s book characters recently expired, so someone has taken advantage of it to create this twisted story about their becoming wild, brutal killers.

From what I recall of their original stories, I can’t think of two fictional characters who better epitomize innocence, goodness, and kindness than Pooh and Piglet. Yet we live in a world where some people are intent on destroying anything virtuous or transforming what is good into something evil. Maybe you’ve noticed it in other movies or TV productions. Superheroes who have long been models of good character have been portrayed in recent times with darker, even immoral, sides. In the meantime, their counterpart villains are often given backstories which seem to try to depict them less as evildoers to be despised and more as victims of society who deserve our sympathy. Whether intentional or not, and I believe it often is on purpose, the lines between good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral continue to be blurred.

 However, this isn’t just occurring on movie and TV screens. We see it in real life too. Those people whom we’ve tended to look up to and respect are being vilified. Sometimes it’s historical individuals who have held a place of honor in our heritage. Other times it’s groups of people who by their careers or principles have typically been held in high esteem. Make no mistake, those individuals have their faults and those groups have their black sheep among them. But there are those who seem to make it their life’s work to dig up any dirt on such people in order to discredit them. Or when there’s any incident in the news concerning someone in that particular group, they are quick to portray it in a way as to shed a bad light on that person and those connected to them – whether it’s the police, the military, a political organization, or a religious group.   

In one of the descriptions the Bible gives of the last days, it describes people who will be “despisers of good” (II Timothy 3:3). While such individuals have always existed, I believe that description fits an increasing number of people in our world today, and even a growing attitude in our society as a whole. The Poohs and Piglets in the world are looked down on. Their goodness and innocence are despised. As individuals and society draw farther away from God and godly principles of living, they try to tear down anything that shines a revealing light on their own wayward conduct and immoral character. So they highlight the flaws of good people while discounting their positive attributes and contributions. Or they try to find a way to transform an innocent, sweet Pooh bear into some kind of monster that makes themselves not look so bad after all.

So watch out for those who are seeking to despise and destroy what’s good. Let’s cling to what’s good and abhor what’s evil. And be assured, Winnie the Pooh isn’t evil.