Our Brush with Greatness

Dr. Jane Goodall spoke to Roots&Shoots groups last night at the Chicago Botanic Garden. We were the only family in our Westside R&S group that were able to attend, but we had a great time. All the groups had displays of their projects set up so we could share information and resources. Our display consisted of a DVD I made playing in an endless loop on my laptop. We didn't have the sound on, as it was loud in the room, but it was a good representation of what we've done.

Dr. Jane worked her way along the tables, causing great excitement among the young people and old folks alike. When she stopped by us, my kids explained breathlessly the work our group has done in the Forest Preserves. Dr. Jane is such an intense presence, she listened quietly, focused in a loud, noisy room. She smiled and asked if the kids also had fun doing their projects, showing them that work and pleasure don't have to be mutually exclusive. Little Missy was being perhaps a bit too serious.

Later, after presentations from the Great Lakes Region Roots&Shoots office and from four school-based groups, Dr. Jane spoke about her commitment to youth involvement and community action, her dedication to the youth movement as one of the remaining hopes for our planet's future. She told stories of her own childhood and of her life with the chimps at Gombe. It's amazing how such a larger than life, awe-inspiring person can be housed in such a small frame. The children clearly were overjoyed at meeting her, impressed by her life's work and yet felt comfortable enough to consider her one of their own. She has a gift.

We stayed for the book signing, which really must be an exhausting thing for an author to go through. We were very tired, but the kids were filled with wonderful fresh fruit put out for dessert and had eaten an unbelievably safe buffet before her talk. We were tired, but mostly happy as we headed to the car. Only the little man suffered from too much sitting in an auditorium and too little patience on his mother's part. I don't enjoy driving at night, my vision is affected, so we were exhausted by the time we got home.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is really a great place, we were reminded in this brief visit. A bit snow covered now, but we'll try to make the trip up this spring when things are in bloom. If only it weren't all the way up in Glencoe! The Chicago metro area is just too big.