Imagine and you might just become…

Before conservationist Jane Goodall struck up a friendship with the chimpanzees of the Gombe Stream National Park, she imagined a life living among the animals of Africa. That’s the way of life; first, we imagine and then, we act.

She once said, or was it imagined, “I wanted to talk to the animals like Doctor Doolittle.” By age 10, she’d made up her mind and while some laughed at her dreams, her mother told her to work hard and never give up.

You might ponder, ‘can anyone talk to the animals, is that even possible’?

For the answer, we return to the Gombe Stream National Park (Tanzania) where, at age 26, Goodall met David Greybeard. He was a chimpanzee who refused a palm nut from her in a way that told her she was trusted and no longer seen as a threat. 

“He very, very gently squeezed my fingers which is how chimpanzees reassure each other,” she said. “We communicated perfectly in a way of communication that predates human language. He understood clearly that my motive was good, and I understood that he understood that, but that he didn’t want the nut.”

She referred to that moment, that instant when Goodall and Greybeard connected, as ‘meaningful’ in a way that changed her. 

“I went to Africa as a scientist,” she said, “I left the jungle as an activist.”

Goodall also asks us to imagine.

To achieve her aim, working towards environmental issues for all creatures, human too, she asks us to also imagine a different future, to challenge the status quo and what is seen by many as ‘normal and ‘acceptable’ practice.

“We hear ‘think globally, act locally’,” Goodall said. Her advice is, “don’t.”

Instead, she wants us to think locally to work on part of the whole picture to make a difference where we can.

“If we think locally, get together with other like-minded people, take action, we realise there is something we can do,” she said. “You have an indomitable spirit, you can make change every single day to make this a better world. There is still a window of time. Nature can win if you give her a chance.”

Imagination requires courage

She also teaches us, I think, that to be imaginative requires courage. She worked past the laughter at her grand idea to talk to the animals until she made it happen.

We all benefit from this simple fact; she never shut down her dreams. Instead, she chased after her ambitions.

Does that mean that ambition has links to imagination. Ask yourself, ‘where might your imagination lead?’

I believe it’s a skill worth nurturing.