Remembering Jane Goodall
“I don’t know about that song “Cows With Guns”.
Jane Goodall, her assistant Mary Lewis, and several members of Jane’s team and I were traveling in a van late at night after one of Jane’s speaking engagements back to the hotel.
“Do they HAVE to have guns? Can’t they be carrying something a little less violent? I mean, surely there must be another way to do that song”.
“Jane, this is America. If you want people here to listen to a song about the plight of cows, you need to have guns in it.”
“I just think that with a little creativity we could come up with something better than guns”.
“This is America Jane. I’m an American. You’re going to have to trust me on this one”.
“I DON’T trust you on this one!”
No one person purchased more of my “Cows With Guns” CDs and books than Jane Goodall. She would send them to her friends who were very ill, or very sad, to cheer them up.
I was very honored, and so fortunate, to be able to spend many good times with Jane Goodall. Jane loved my song “The Tree”, and when we were in the same town, she would often have me come up and sing “The Tree” during her speaking engagements.
While I always treasured the conversations we had, I was equally fascinated just watching Jane talk to others. Jane spoke to people the same way she would speak to animals. No matter who she was speaking to, she was VERY present, listening VERY carefully.
Everywhere she went she would ALWAYS take time to be with children and young people. I believe her highest priority was to educate, inspire and support our youth. Her program Roots and Shoots, which will no doubt long outlive her, to me was a stroke of strategic genius. Each Roots and Shoots group does three projects: one for the animals, one for the environment, and one for people. The children decide which projects they would like to work on. The children own their projects. (I can hear Jane saying “you damned well better feature Roots and Shoots in your write up about me”. There it is Jane 🙂
After learning of Jane’s passing, I found myself thinking about what Jane must have been thinking about when she realized she was dying. I know that Jane knows about life, and how there are “mysteries” about life that science cannot yet prove. I found myself thinking “I bet Jane approached death with curiosity. What is THIS going to be like?”. And I found myself thinking that Jane would also be curious about her new situation in the afterlife, approaching it with wonder. I don’t mean to add to your work load Jane, but if you find you can continue helping us from the other side, we’d sure appreciate it. I’d sure appreciate it.
Once in a while Jane would invite a few friends back to her hotel room after her talk for some expensive scotch. Her friends knew she liked scotch, and there would always be a few bottles of it on the counter. “This is the good stuff”, she would say reaching for a particular bottle, I can’t remember the brand.
Knowing how hard Jane worked and how exhausted she always was, I would generally bow out of the late-night discussions early, as would everyone else. On this particular night I decided I’d wait until Jane kicked me out. After a while Jane and I were alone and I got to ask her the question I had been wondering about.
“Jane, after almost every show you stay late signing people’s books and posing for photographs with folks. You spend at least a minute or so chatting with each person. I’m guessing you put in all this effort because you’re hoping that you might inspire someone who will go out and do something brilliant for the world.”
Jane thought about this a while, and sipped her scotch.
“Or . . . they might be inspired to go out and do something . . . mediocre.”
She let that sit for a few seconds.
“And when that person goes out and does something mediocre with all their heart and soul to try and help our beautiful world, there might be a person next to them who is inspired, who then goes on to do something brilliant.”
And I realized that what she was saying, is that everything we do – matters. We never quite know how our good work and good efforts can inspire others, and make our world a better place.
Thank you, Jane, for your love, your grace, your humor, your strength, and your never-ending dedication to all the creatures of our beautiful world. Thank you for helping us understand that the rest of the creatures are also communicating – it’s just that we have to be very present, to try and hear them.
