Remembering Teddy
It’s time to remember and revisit those memories of Teddy on National Teddy Bear Day this September 9. (File Photo: YIFEI CHEN/Unsplash)
To tuck Teddy under its small blanket was a routine of most (if not all) kids had every night. At times (or most), Teddy got to sleep under the bigger blanket, by the chest of its owner. Sometimes, Teddy was just inside the encircled arms of its young one, cotton limbs limp by the pull of gravity.
Right now? Maybe Teddy is just in every kid’s memories.
It’s time to remember and revisit those memories of Teddy on National Teddy Bear Day this September 9.
Teddy’s job
Teddy bears are children’s companions that live their dreams or join them in their little adventures. Teddy can be anything. It can be a superhero. It can be a tea party participant. It can be a doctor.
It is an iconic toy that every child will just know regardless of their preferences in their playtimes.
On social media one can have a glimpse of the different stories that some Teddy bears lived. Some users posted their “survivor” teddies who are still “going strong” even years after “retirement” as most of these are just found in their closets on display to be preserved.
Others have instead posted the teddies of their children, who are still active in their occupation on being the guardians of these young ones in dreamland or simply being that softie that is being hugged all day or all night.
Meanwhile, some have also posted their bear collections coming from their respective partners – probably the accumulated stuffed toys from anniversaries, Valentine’s Days, and other celebrations.
It cannot be denied that Teddy bears still play a role in whatever generation.
Teddy’s origins
As cute and cuddly as they are, Teddy Bears originated from a concept that is of deep contrast to the mentioned and not from your magical Once Upon a Time.
Teddy Bears were made in honor of the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, who was invited to a trip hunt bears in 1902 – except that he could not find one.
His assistants then cornered a black American bear and tied it to a willow tree; later asking the president to shoot it. Roosevelt, however, found the move to be ‘unsportsmanlike’ so he refused to, but he did ask them to just ‘end its misery’ as it was wounded after the hunt by his assistants.
The story became the theme of an editorial cartoon by the Washington Post’s Clifford Berryman in the same year. At first “Teddy’s Bear” was drew as vicious, but his redraws depicted it as a cuddly cub, that was soon popularized as the Teddy Bear – toys of children.
Teddy’s popularity
Year 2019 is a witness to how Teddy Bears still exist even though stuffed toys now come in more variations.
Icons in media such as Winnie the Pooh and Ted are evidence that teddies can’t just be erased anymore as they are already part of the lives of children – both of the past and the present.
Even Mr. Bean cannot be in his adventures and shenanigans without his Teddy hiding inside his coat.
It may be true that as childhood passes and the reality of the world dawns on every kid, a lot of toys are just left under the beds, inside the closets, donation boxes, or even trash bags. The teddy bears are not an exception, especially when the loved cuddle of the toy is already in broken threads and irreparable damage.
However, the memories that are imprinted with Teddy, real or not, shall remain tucked inside the hearts of the kids of today and the kids in today’s adults.
