Terry Sarten: Spirit of Eeyore is alive and well in NZ

Tuesday was Eeyore's 140th birthday. Despite Eeyore's gloomy view of the world, he holds a special place in the hearts and minds of generations of readers of the Winnie the Pooh stories. Perhaps this is because Eeyore, despite his grumbling manner, always finds a hint of hope. He has remained, over 140 years and millions of bedtime readings, a favourite character for children.
When I left high school my English teacher gave me some useful advice: "Read Winnie the Pooh at least once a year - it will help you maintain perspective and keep you sane".
I have heeded that wisdom and at times I use the Winnie the Pooh characters as a way to describe people. Example: We all know those bouncy people who constantly ricochet between ideas and action, full of enthusiasm. These are Tigger people. Those who spent a lot of time contemplating things they don't understand, pretending they actually know stuff are like Owl.
If the world was the equivalent of AA Milne's Three Acre Wood, then England would be Winnie the Pooh. Like the Bear of Little Brain, England bumbles along, humming a Eurovision song, happy in the moment that occurred in 1966 when they won the football World Cup, while wondering whether it is time for tea.
Tigger would be Italy, wildly distracted by everything and unsure whether their old but rich Prime Minister Berlusconi should be applauded or sacked for hiring girls young enough to be his daughter to cater to his whims.
France is like the anxious and worried Rabbit - an odd mixture of knowledge and ignorance. French politicians have got their citizens fretting about foreigners, winding up ignorant xenophobia to the max in the knowledge that this diverts attention from the economy.
Which country is the equivalent of the Kanga and Roo of the world? This would have to be Australia. The matter of asylum-seeking boatpeople has got them, like Kanga unsure if baby Roo/ refugees should be allowed to stay sheltered in the pouch of the Lucky Country or put out to fend for themselves.
Owl is like Belgium, muddled by its lack of an ability get things right (such as form a government) but unwittingly incredibly clever. Belgium has made politicians irrelevant.
The United States is the Christopher Robin of the world. It is expected to come along when things go wrong and fix everything. Unlike Christopher Robin in the AA Milne books, this often makes things worse, instead of better.
New Zealand is the Eeyore of the Southern Hemisphere. If there is something to complain about, we will find it. We like to blame the "gupmint" when things go badly wrong while expecting it to bail us out.
Like Eeyore, as a nation we pretend that we don't care when nobody remembers our birthday and cannot find us out on a map of the world. Often we are hidden in the folded bit in the middle of maps. No matter how much we ruminate on this unfortunate quirk of paper folding we cannot shift our latitude unless we all leave.
On the bright side we have a bigger collection of weather than many countries, and often get it all in an hour, so we mustn't grumble.
Terry Sarten describes himself as a musician, writer, social worker and optimist in denial. Email:tgs@inspire.net.nz