Great And Small

 Goodbye to trusted friends. 

This past week was a difficult one, and in the midst of a particularly challenging day at school, in a quiet moment I checked my texts. One of my favorite people sent a note to let me know that her thirteen year old canine pal had left this world. This news did not improve my day, merely solidifying the day in the annals of those which I would rather not experience again. 

This came fast on the heels of the death of Jane Goodall. As I typed her name, it occurred to me how appropriately named she was: Good All. In a video message played to students in Pasadena, California because she was unable to attend she relayed this greeting: "I've been working on trying to make this a better world for animals, people, and the environment, flat out, since 1986, and one of my greatest reasons for hope in this battered world is the youth."

As a big fan of animals, primarily dogs and apes, this was a reminder of something more important than Super Bowls and the breakup of Nicole Kidman's marriage. Somehow we humans found ourselves at the top of the food chain and then decided to make it difficult, if not impossible, for so many other species to survive. Which might explain our predilection toward adopting cats and dogs and chimps and snakes and the occasional buffalo. We want to feel connected to the part of the planet that used to be theirs. 

Not everyone is cut out to be the steward of a different species. Some folks take on a pet as casually as one might decide on a new sofa. This is not the way my friend connects with her dogs. It's not the way Doctor Goodall met with the primates in her life. These were bonds that ran deep and left a mark. Lessons learned from those creatures we sometimes mistakenly believe are somehow less than us. 

Less? Because they haven't created complex ways to destroy the planet we all live on? Because they rely on us to open the packages that we insist on hiding their food in? 

Hardly. 

We are not the smartest monkeys. Not even close. We are the beneficiaries of the patience and understanding of a world full of beasts who have let us share the planet with them. We should return that favor.