Jane Goodall

I met Jane Goodall this weekend!  I'm still kind of in shock. 

My friend was speaking with her at the Wellington Zoo at the end of her Australasian tour. She invited 4 local "conservation heroes" to speak with her, with the theme of bringing hope for conservation.  My friend Monica did a great job, even though there were some last minute changes to the time alloted to her.  Afterwards she was super-stressed out and I just grabbed her arm and shook it.  "Jane Goodall just called you a hero!  Snap out of it!"

I had read Jane Goodall's book, "A Reason to Hope", at a particularly rough patch in the senior year of my undergrad.  It was a birthday gift from my mom.  The book is basically an autobiography, but at it's core the message is to keep fighting optimistically, because without hope we really can't make a difference.

Jane made a particular point of talking to this little boy in the front row, telling him that even though we adults had borrowed hard against his future that he could still win it back.  And yeah, my buddies thought it was cheesy, and maybe it was, but dammit, the world needs more of that kind of cheesy.  That kid walked away looking like he was walking on air, and I looked at him and remembered being that kid, watching Jane Goodall on TV.  It's pretty amazing that such a diminutive, quiet little lady could have such a presence and make such a difference in conservation internationally, in our lives all over the world.

So I guess sitting here, looking at the picture I had taken with her, it makes me remember why I wanted to do all this science stuff in the first place.  In spite of all the struggles and the failed reactions in the lab and the troubles with academia, I keep coming back because I think knowledge really can make a difference.

I'm really glad I got to thank her in person.