Jane Goodall and Me

When my friend, Kim, announced that she and her husband were heading to the San Diego Zoo, as part of a get-a-way, and offered to take photographs of animals that could be turned into card sets for Mickeysjoy, the shop, I was thrilled. Her husband is a great photographer and Kim and I had created a little section just for cards created from photographs taken during our travels. We entitled it "The Viajeros Collection." (Viajeros means the traveler, in Spanish.) I requested that she not forget to include some monkeys, in the photos. The thoughts of all of those animals and specifically the monkeys brought childhood memories flooding back....

National Geographic's monthly arrival to our mailbox, when I was a child, was a time of both excitement and wonderment for me. My mother would always find time when we could look at the magazine together. I'd sit, knees tucked under me, in an effort to get as close to the action, as possible. After perusing the magazine for a subject that caught our attention, we would settle into the business of discovery. I could read, by this age, but the text could be challenging and I was too eager to just ingest the information so my mother read some and paraphrased more. We read about unfamiliar  places and the people who lived there, volcanoes and earthquakes, stars and planets. The topics seemed limitless and although I enjoyed learning about most things, my undeniably favorite topic was animals. I delighted in learning about all types of animals and the food that they ate, the unique ways they protected themselves, and the charming ways they cared for their young. Regardless of the species, I was struck by the fact that each seemed to have so much in common with us...as humans.

In August of 1963, the National Geographic Magazine ran an article on Jane Goodall.  I was totally engaged in this article about a young, female anthropologist, living and working in, what was then Tanganyika, among the chimpanzees, recording their behaviors and eventually interacting with them. She, unconventionally, gave the animals in her study, names...instead of numbers...and recorded observations of behaviors that she insisted were evidence of the bonds that existed between chimpanzee family members. When we read about her personal encounters, with the chimpanzees, I was enthralled. These stories fueled a love of animals I had known all of my life, confirmed a suspicion about connections we share with all living things, and added a dimension of knowledge and understanding that changed a part of me, forever.

Copied from Reason For Hope by Jane Goodall

In eighth grade, I took a biology class taught by a young woman obviously captivated by the subject she taught, She was young, enthusiastic, and lectured with a black and white rat perched on her shoulder. She fed my love and fascination of all living things and I was excited to put some of what I knew about Miss Goodall's research into our end-of-the-year report.

School projects, that became a family affair, were always among my favorites. This report incorporated footnotes so my mother provided some assistance in this area. She was typically my proofreader, as well.  My father always had wonderful ideas for the visual aide part of any project but the artwork had to be mine. In fact, he always seemed reluctant to help me with any part of an artwork project. I would be much older before I would understand that he never wanted me to stop believing in my own artistic abilities. I got lucky with this project...the report cover was ungraded and I wore him down with my pleading.

I was always a good student but not a straight A kid.

There was definitely a life lesson here.

Do what you love... you're bound to succeed.

                                  
My respect for Miss Goodall, as well as my fascination with her work, endured beyond my youth. I continued to read about her research with chimpanzees and purchased several of the books she wrote. I felt we were such kindred spirits that I was anxious to learn more about her as a person. Although Miss Goodall and I have led significantly different adult lives, our childhoods had many parallels. Undoubtedly, the most significant similarity was that we were both raised in a home where love and respect for living things was encouraged from our earliest days. It seems it was our destiny to have this undeniable connection to the animal world and a certain sense of responsibility for its protection.

 

 

I hope you have a chance to check out the amazing photographed animal note cards in our shop. It's impossible to look at those facial expressions and not recognize we all share commonalities. For me...it's impossible to look at them and not feel appreciation for all those childhood experiences that cause me to look at animals with such awe.