Jane Goodall gave me the gift of wonder

I was in DAR Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. the first time Jane Goodall spoke about her work in the United States on February 28, 1964. I was 9 years old, and I am still inspired by what I heard that night.

My parents were members of the National Geographic Society and subscribed to a series of lectures that brought the great explorers of the era to DAR Constitution Hall to report on their work. Both of my parents were enthralled by lectures describing the natural wonders and cultures of the world, many of which had never been previously explored or even photographed

In the 1960s, the National Geographic lectures provided a unique window into the extraordinary explorations of Earth, the solar system and humankind.

This was before color television, televised National Geographic Specials, Discovery Channel, or even color pictures in newspapers. The National Geographic lectures were as close as I could come to visiting the furthest corners and cultures of the planet.

She inspired me to know that wonder was amendable to human senses, that it could be touched, described in human terms, and embraced.

To this day, I remember hearing Louis and Mary Leakey describe human ancestors who were millions of years old, Jacques Cousteau describe exploring the depths of the sea, and Thor Heyerdahl describe his voyages on the Ra across the Atlantic Ocean.

It is unlikely that I understood the substance in these great lecturers. I was too young to know anything about geological time, the diversity of life, human anatomy, or human culture. It did not matter. I was mesmerized by the sights and moved by a sense of exploration, adventure and wonder that infused my dreams for days. Years later, I recognized these emotions in the writings of Schopenhauer who wrote:

He may comprehend only their idea that is foreign to all relation, gladly linger over its contemplation and be elevated precisely in this way above himself, … he is then filled with the feeling of the sublime; he is in a state of exaltation…

But Jane Goodall’s lecture was different.

Louis and Mary Leakey, Jacques Cousteau and Thor Heyerdahl were in their late 40s or 50s when I heard them speak. They were adult, august and accomplished and they spoke of things that stretched my imagination. As Wordsworth said, they showed the wonders of the world as something “…for the mind to grasp at, something towards which it can make approaches but which is incapable of attaining.”

But Jane Goodall was not yet 30 when I attended her lecture, and not yet famous. She looked and spoke more like someone’s older sister than a schoolteacher. Moreover, her story was relatable. She talked about sitting alone in the jungle among the chimpanzees waiting for them to notice and accept her. She talked about cautious circling, furtive glances, tentative approaches and the depth of non-verbal communication across a distance. Eventually, she talked about giving the chimps names and feeling like friends. It was a story familiar to every school child who has ever sat in the middle of a playing field at recess hoping to be noticed, accepted into the game, and befriended.

Goodall did not ask me to envision nature as something far away in space, scale; in her telling, it wasn’t something to grasp at, or something that a child was incapable of attaining. Rather, she described looking wonder in the eye — and it held her gaze. She reached out to touch it — and it held her hand.

Goodall inspired me to see wonder not only in the great majesty of the mountains, but also in the salamanders and tadpoles that I collected from the stream across the street from my house, the flying squirrels that nested in my bird house and eventually became my pets, and in the myriad microorganisms in the water from the pond near our home. She inspired me to know that wonder was amendable to human senses, that it could be touched, described in human terms, and embraced.

I do not know for certain if my memories from that night in 1964 are authentic or whether they have been reshaped by Goodall’s lifetime of sensational activities and accomplishments. What I do know is that I was inspired to hold onto nature and the sense of wonder it engendered, and make it part of my life.