My heart sank when I learned that Jane Goodall had passed on. It is a great loss for humanity. To me, she was the only hope for the world. No one could argue with Jane Goodall as she had a lifetime of experience working with chimpanzees. Not the scientists nor the scholars.
I am glad that I attended her talk and got to meet her last year. She was cool, humorous and brought hope to people and to the future.
When I think of her, compassion and peace fill my mind. To me, she was an icon of compassion. A real person whom I witnessed influencing others with her kindness and who deeply understood the suffering of animals. She recognised how we have destroyed the only place we live in and she dedicated herself to bringing hope to the people who also wanted to save the earth and help animals.
Many have worshipped figures they did not even know. Many have also worshipped those who spoke endlessly of loving-kindness and compassion, yet never acted on it. I could neither find nor feel compassion in those who preached so much about it. But in Jane Goodall, she truly possessed those qualities.
I am inspired by the way she approached life. Even at the age of 91, she remained active and tirelessly committed to doing what was right. Beyond being influenced by her compassion, her relentless energy showed me that as long as we are alive, we must keep truly living. She was real! There are no gimmicks or pretences.
Here are a few quotes from Jane Goodall that I would like to share:
“I think I’d like to be remembered as someone who really helped people to have a little humility and realised that we are part of the animal kingdom not separated from it.”
“Somehow we must keep hope alive, a hope that we can find a way to educate all, alleviate poverty, assuage anger, and live in harmony with the environment, with animals, and with each other.”
“The least I can do is speak out or those who cannot speak for themselves.”
“Thousands of people who say they ‘love’ animals sit down once or twice a day to enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been utterly deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living and who endured the awful suffering and the terror of the abattoirs.”
“We need to realise we’re part of the environment, that we need the natural world. We depend on it. We can’t go on destroying. We’ve got to somehow understand that we’re not separated from it, we are all intertwined. Harm nature, harm ourselves.”
“Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.”
“We should have respect for animals because it makes better human beings of us all.”
Below is one of my favourite quote.
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.”
~ Jane Goodall (1934 ~ 2025)
Below is a video by the Jane Goodall Institute. It shows Jane Goodall and her team releasing one of the rescued chimpanzee. I was deeply touched by the chimpanzee”s reaction.
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