United Buddy Bears

This is a collage of some of the photos I took of the travelling Buddy Bears when they were displayed underneath the Eiffel Tower last Autumn.

On my recent weekend away in Paris I went up the Eiffel tower and when I looked down at the Champs de Mars from the viewing platform I noticed, through the morning mist, two rows of “people” lined up on either side of the lawn.  I decided to investigate a little more closely after I had descended the tower.

On closer inspection I found that they were bears rather than people and that they formed a touring exhibition of United Buddy Bears.  The bears are on display in Paris (for a few weeks) to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the twinning of Paris and Berlin and the 50thanniversary of the Élysée Treaty.

You can find out more about the project (including my thoughts) in my post ‘The Art of Tolerance” or on the official ‘United Buddy Bear” site.

14 Comments CherryPie on Jan 3rd 2013

14 Responses to “United Buddy Bears”

  1. Lisl says:

    That is really interesting, Cherie. We have had similar things in Bath – Pigs one year, and Lions another, but without the same underlying meaning. They were sold off and raised a lot of money for charity. Last year Wells had a collection of swans.

  2. ....peter:) says:

    This is just great Cherie… i couldn’t think of a better way to use the space… there should be Buddy Bears all over the world… great collage….peter:)

  3. Ginnie says:

    Ohhhhhhh. I LOVE the Buddy Bears, Cherry, and have seen many of them in Germany from years ago. I would love to see them all one day! great collage.

  4. rusty duck says:

    Thanks Cherie, they are just like the ones I remember from Berlin. Jx

  5. james higham says:

    A comment on Cherie’s other site:

    But such peace and tolerance is unlikely to happen – at least in the far forseeable future. Tolerance is the least understood word among the great human race and it seems that religion is one of the biggest breeders of intolerance.

    When people:

    1. stop conflating all “religions” and realize that there is one which promotes faith, hope and charity for all mankind;

    2. realize that it is political correctness which has set us at each other’s throats …

    … then we might be on the road back to peace and tolerance.

    • CherryPie says:

      James,

      You started your comment ‘A comment on Cherie’s other site:’ so I am not sure if your comment was for me or others that might be following my comments thread.

      But here are my thoughts to your points:

      1: I have mentioned many times here and on your blog that all faiths teach the same thing. The word Religion does fuzzy the issue of what we are discussing and further down the discussion thread at my other site I gave a lengthy reply from which I quote:

      I have an issue with the word ‘religion’ and I did hesitate to use that word in my post. In the context of the project the word ‘religion’ really means ‘faith’.

      But I understand why you had a problem with the first commenter, I did too, hence my lengthy reply further down in the comment thread.

      2: When we understand that all the major faiths teach the same thing we will realise that the PC issue is a side issue and it is the message of those faiths we should be focusing on rather than anything else.

      Then we ‘are’ on the path that leads to peace and tolerance.

  6. james higham says:

    I have mentioned many times here and on your blog that all faiths teach the same thing.

    You equate Islam with Christianity, Cherie? OK, I retire gracefully from the discussion.

    • CherryPie says:

      Yes James all the major faiths teach the same thing. Religious dogma detracts from those teachings.

      It is unwise to mix political thoughts with spirituality.

      And in the context of your comment, Islamic dogma and Christian dogma both lead to the wrong path.

      I am a Christian (but I am not sure that you and I have the same understanding of what that word means). You did comment once that I seemed more Christian than you. Well I live it and breath it, always have done so it is not unsurprising that you would notice that…

      Do I have to remind you that you seriously contemplated converting your faith due to a lady? And that I advised you against it because you would be doing it for the wrong reasons…

  7. I quite like the Liberty Bear!
    So cute.