Problem 9 – Am I Still a Teddy Bear?

Dear Uncle Bearsac

Please tell me, am I still a teddy bear?

I am now without ears. My owner was told that he was too old to keep me anymore and his father chucked me out like a piece of rubbish. My owner came to rescue me from the dustbin but then had a partial change of heart. He suddenly decided that maybe it was about time he put aside childish things, but could not fully do so. So what he did was cut off my ears as a keepsake that he could hide easily from his father, as I am too big to hide in full.

I have since been rescued from the bin by the dustbin men and I live on the front grill of the truck tied on with green string. That doesn’t bother me so as I get to go lots of places and I have gotten used to the smell, dirt and fumes.

What bothers me Bearsac, is whether I am still a teddy bear without my teddy bear ears, the defining feature of a teddy bear from any other cuddly toy.

Well Uncle Bearsac, it’s over to you.

From JoJo

Bearsac’s reply to problem 11

Dear JoJo

I had a conversation along these lines with my owner a few days ago when she told me off for suggesting a young woman cuts down her toy rabbits ears and rounds them off to be like a teddy bears so the rabbit would be a teddy bear.

My owner (Debra) made me see that a rabbit cannot be a teddy bear by resizing and reshaping its ears; it will never be anything else other than a rabbit and that to be a rabbit is something to be proud of. She also made me see that a teddy bear has equal right to be proud of it’s being a teddy bear and that neither are of higher value than the other or of any other cuddly toy.

By the same measure that a rabbit will only ever be and will always be a rabbit – whatever the state of it’s ears or any other part of its body – a teddy bear will only ever be and will always be a teddy bear whatever part of it’s body, ears included, it loses.

I can imagine that somewhere along the line cuddly toys and people will offer you advice, solicited or not, on whether to get new teddy bear ears. Some will say you need to be mended to become a teddy bear again and others will argue and maybe even aggressivelyinsist that you must not give in to that negative model of thinking and that you should remain without ears to serve as a shining example of how society needs to change its attitude to include everyone equally.
However, what matters JoJo, is what you yourself want for you. You must be happy being you however you choose to be. But at the end of the day JoJo, one thing you will always be is a teddy bear and hopefully always a proud teddy bear that sees every other cuddly toy as an equal.

Good luck JoJo.