This morning, Dr. Jane Goodall visited The American School of Warsaw (ASW) where my wife works to speak to the students, and hear what they had to say. It was an incredible opportunity, and I didn’t want to miss it.
At first, I wasn’t sure I would make there. There are a lot of things to do around the house, and I have Izzy in the mornings. It was too late to try and make other arrangements and I was feeling like I couldn’t do it. I realized that what I couldn’t do was leave my comfort zone. I was about to make the same decision I’ve made hundreds of times before: go with the sure, easy thing that I know would work ahead of time, rather than do what I want and either make it work or deal with the consequences.
I’m really only mentioning this because I feel it’s the kind of choice that we all face daily, and one that I believe Dr. Goodall (or Dr. Jane as she referred to herself to the kids) would not hesitate follow her heart.
Her calm, easy manner and measured speach were more fitting for someone strolling through a park than a woman who travels 300 days of the year, raising awareness and campaigning to save the planet (and by planet, I don’t mean making sure humans have a comfy place to live. I mean the whole planet – every living thing – and the balance nature requires). She is a woman who followed (and continues to follow) her passion, regardless of any obstacles. But it’s not a raging passion that burns strong and quickly. She proves that you do not need to be a charging rhinoceros to break through barriers. She is calm and observant, and dismantles barriers with undeniable truth and patience, rather than brute force.
She mentioned at one point that she is able to travel so much, despite it being so difficult, because she wants to hear students tell her what they are doing to help the environment. That really struck me, because she’s not traveling to speak. She’s traveling to listen.
One of the things Dr. Goodall emphasized is that we humans have disconnected ourselves from animals, claiming to be something different – something better. When in reality we are just animals. And in studying the chipmanzees, she can see we’ve also disconnected our brains from our hearts. We make too many decisions based on short-term goals and put all our focus on what we, personally, have to gain and very little, if any, on the consequences of our actions beyond ourselves.
Dr. Goodall stressed that we do not only need to be conscious of, and work to fix, the problems facing the planet we all inhabit, but also we must be aware of ourselves socially, and culturally. Preserving our planet’s delicate balance is about more than just recycling and reducing your carbon footprint. It’s about teamwork and community.
I, unfortunately, do not have the kind of memory that allows me to recite what she said as eloquently as she said it, but there were a few things she said that stuck with me for one reason or another that I will try to paraphrase.
When she was a child, Dr. Goodall told us, she was so interested in animals that she would bring worms to bed with her. Rather than get angry, her mother explained to her that the worms would not survive apart from the dirt. So together they would return the worms to their natural environment, where I’m sure she would return to study them. I hope, as a parent, I can be as supportive of my childrens’ interests.
Dr. Goodall accepted responsibility for the current condition of the planet on behalf of her entire generation, though I’m sure she did far more to help it than many of them, she still lived through that time. She quoted a phrase that has gained popularity lately, which is "We do not inherit the world from our parents, we borrow it from our children." She went on to disagree slightly with this, saying that borrowing implies we are giving something back. Instead, she said, we have been stealing it from you.
Of all the things she said, however, probably her strongest message was simply that: "It is impossible for anyone to not make a difference." Dr. Goodall reminded us that every person in every moment is influencing their surroundings. Everything we do – good, bad, or indifferent – has an impact. We are not individuals, disconnected from nature. We are animals sharing life with billions of others. We more than live on the Earth; We are a part of it.
