Jane Goodall

Young Jane Goodall with chimp stuffed animal (achievement.org (Mortimer Goodall))

  "Never, never, never, never give up," said the late Winston Churchill Looking upon Jane Goodall's life is seeing those words in action, she models them perfectly in everything she does. Jane was born in London, England on April 3^rd 1934. As a child she loved to spend her free time drawing and reading about animals, her dream was to go to Africa and live like Tarzan. At the age of 26, she left her home in England and went to Gombe to begin research on the chimpanzees with Louis Leakey. The rest is history, her studies showed that chips have human traits, eat meat, have feelings, and use tools. She forced scientists to redefine the meaning of man. From there she founded many organizations and travels around the world educating children about the environment and endangered animals. "A hero is an individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles" (Christopher Reeve). An ordinary person, Jane has become a hero through her actions. She possesses three qualities that help define a true hero; bravery, selflessness and the ability to care. Bravery has many definitions, but in the dictionary the first word is courage. Courage to go where no one has gone before, to do something no one has ever thought of doing before. Selflessness is the ability to put others or things above yourself, to love something so much to give your life to it. And last but not least, the ability to care. To care for something so much that you will make sure that it never gets ruined or hurt. To do things for it that are so crazy or dangerous but you don't mind as long as it benefit the cause or the animal you care so dearly about. Throughout her life Jane has shown the world these three traits in a way no other has. Jane Goodall became an inspiration to all by challenging the odds and redefining man, with her selflessness, bravery and caring soul.

 Being able to give up your whole life to something is selfless. Jane displays selflessness everyday through what she does: "She maintains our ability to reason and learn from shared experience will yet enable us to preserve a livable environment for ourselves and all our fellow creatures. Today, Jane Goodall travels nearly 300 days a year, circling the globe to share her message of hope, and encouraging young people to work for a better world" (Reynolds, Wayne R.). She could've stopped working years ago but she didn't and never will. She encourages us to live outside of ourselves to care about others and our environment. Jane is a living example that it is possible to dedicate your life to a good cause and have something come out of it. Most of her year is spent educating others and working with her conservations. She encourages others to do what they love and try to make the world a better place by it. Jane constantly put her life at risk in Africa:"In May of 1975 four research assistants were kidnapped from the research center by Zairean rebels. After months of negotiations, the hostages were returned. Because of continued risk, almost all of the many European and American researchers left Gombe. Goodall continued to carry out her work with the help of local people who had been trained to conduct research" (Encyclopedia of World Biography). This shows Jane exhibiting selflessness by putting her life on the line for her research and the animals. She risked the chance of being kidnapped and possibly killed for these creatures. She would do anything to study the chimps and to help them. It shows her dedication to her work and how little she cares about what it may do to her in the process. Instead of fleeing like others did, Jane stood her ground and put her life at risk to finish her studies. By doing this, she showed the world that she was devoted to her work and wouldn't let anything stand in the way. Jane's mind is always focused on something else rather than her own self. Whether it's the chimps, her research, or conservations she is never thinking about what the outcome is for her but how it affects the rest of the world. That shows character and selflessness, something we all could learn from watching and living like Jane.

Jane in Africa ( janegoodallug.org(Max Doringo))

  Despite having all the odds against her, Jane still went out and did her job.  Jane loves animals and always dreamed of the chance to meet wild ones; she never expected the ones she would meet would be thought of as dangerous and so unidentified: "Chimpanzees had previously been thought to be violent, aggressive animals with crude social arrangements. Researchers had given their subjects numbers rather than names and had ignored the differences in personality, intelligence, and social acumen that Goodall's studies revealed" Encyclopedia of World Biography). Jane's bravery pushed her to study these unknown creatures that were perceived to be mean, hostile animals, to study what no one had done before. Jane went into an unknown where anything could've happened.  Since there are no records of what the experience was like, there is no idea of what she was getting herself into. Jane didn't let that stop her; her bravery overcame the fear of the misunderstood chimps and lead her into their habitat to become one of them. Bravery can be shown through many ways and the Jane's bravery is humble and can go unnoticed: "Few studies of chimpanzees had been successful; either the size of the safari frightened the chimps, causing them to act unnaturally, or the observers spent too little time in the field to gain comprehensive knowledge of their lifestyle" (Scientists: Their Lives and Works). Jane went into an area of research plagued with failure and with many opportunities to go wrong. She didn't let that stop her; she went into the study eagerly and with excitement others lacked. To go do something that has such a high occurrence of failure and disappointment is brave. It could've ruined her entire career, but she took the leap of faith and turned out successful in the end. Having people against you and doubting you could make this project prosperous could lead some into giving up, bu not Jane. Her audacity overcame all the doubting that was going on around her, and in completion, she ended up redefining man through her bravery and dedication. Jane showed bravery by doing something new, something no one had done before, in her research and methods. Additionally, she showed bravery by going into the wilderness and putting herself in danger to further our knowledge of our natural world. Jane exhibits bravery in an unforeseen way, through unique and untried processes, by challenging tradition and stereotypes.

  Jane's strong character is solely based on her caring soul. From protecting the chimps to encouraging young people to make a difference, one can see Jane's caring personality in her efforts: "To preserve the wild chimpanzee's environment, Goodall encourages African nations to develop nature-friendly tourism programs, a measure that makes wildlife into a profitable resource. She actively works with business and local governments to promote ecological responsibility" (Bringham Narins). Jane not only cares for the chimps and their lives but for people's lives as well. Her advice to the African nations will help bring their economy up and not let there be as many impoverished citizens as there is. Jane tries to educate people all over the world on how to live better and how they can improve the world around them in a way that will benefit them. She also works to make sure that towns and businesses are treating the environment with respect. She knows that the environment is going to be critically hurt in the future if we don't take care of it now. Jane wants humankind to realize that the environment is precious and we need it to live, her conservation efforts show the world that she is trying to make a change. Most people retire by the time they are Jane's age, but she continues to work on behalf of the chimpanzees and the environment: "She remains personally involved in the longest, unbroken field study of any group of animals in the wild" (Hall, Brook). Jane doesn't have to do any more research; she is elderly and has plenty of data from her studies. She continues to work because she yearns for it; she cares deeply about the subject and doesn't want to stop striving to make the world a better place for the animals and us. Jane is compassionate toward the chimps; she spent most of her life studying them, but she is also compassionate about the environment and education. As long as Jane is living, she will continue her work and continue to care. Jane's caring personality is one of the things that makes her a heroic figure.

Jane and chimanzee

  Throughout her life, Jane Goodall became an inspiration with her selflessness, caring soul, and bravery. Whether she was busy studying the chimps, stating organizations or educating people around the world, she modeled a true hero. Facing many challenges, Jane tested them all to complete life-changing research. She worked hard for many years doing the one thing she loved. Jane still travels and works around the world trying to make a positive impact all around her. Jane Goodall is an inspiration because she never gave up when everyone doubted her and ended up doing important research that changed human's perspective on things. She devoted her life too something she's passionate about and makes a difference in the world around. She saves lives, they may not be humans but if we lost the chimps or other endangered animals, it'd be a big impact on the environment and the ecosystem. She represents the voiceless, the ones who can't speak out that they are being mistreated and are dying because of us humans. She became the change she wanted to see and inspire many others to do the same. One of my idols will always be Jane Goodall. Everyone wants to make a difference, what they don't realize is that they are the only thing standing in their way. Jane realized this and overcame it to change the world. Another man who changed the world, Barack Obama, once said during a speech: "Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."