Submitted by Marc Bekoff
January 2018
I'm pleased to share this New Year Message from Jane Goodall [The
Jane Goodall Institute]
– Marc Bekoff
Let me now share with you the New Year message that I wrote very early on
the last morning of 2017. It summarizes what I am feeling as we enter 2018.
On 23rd December I finally got back home (to The Birches, the house where I
grew up in Bournemouth, UK, where my sister lives with her family and where
I retreat between tours) after more than two months, without a break, “on
the road”. Which means airplanes, airports, hotels, lectures, meetings and
so on. It was a crazy schedule that took me in that time period to Osaka and
Tokyo in Japan, many cities in the USA and Canada, Buenos Aries in
Argentina, various European countries – London for JGI events, Vienna, for
our JGI-Global biannual meeting, and then lectures, media and so on arranged
by Belgian and German JGIs in Brussels, Dusseldorf, and Munich. In Munich,
wearing borrowed boots that were too big, I tripped on a freezing railway
station landing most of my weight on one knee. Ouch! Then hobbled through
Kuala Lumpur, back to San Francisco and Los Angeles for three more
screenings of the Geographic documentary JANE -- which may well be nominated
for an Oscar.
In LA, in addition to a very successful and prestigious screening hosted by
Leonardo di Caprio, I was finally forced to go and have my knee looked at
and discovered I had fractured the knee cap. So, how lucky that I am now at
home until 17 January, by which time the knee should be healed - if I am
careful. And I must be careful or else, the doctor told me sternly, I would
have to have surgery that would put me out of action for a couple of months
- and there is absolutely no space in my 2018 schedule for that!
As I write this it is just getting light. Outside it is chill, grey, damp,
windy. It has been like this throughout the Christmas holiday. And I have
been thinking about the events of the past year. For me, and for most JGIs,
it has been a successful year. I have been perhaps too busy, but every
single event has gone well. But for so many people around the world 2017
brought hardship and suffering. Because of the hurricanes and floods and
draughts and fires due to climate change that have caused some to loose
their homes, their possessions, even family and friends. And climate change
has caused others to migrate from increasingly hostile environments. Then
there are the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing violence, war and
genocide. The horrifying number of people subjected to domestic violence.
The poverty, the rising number of the homeless and the millions, including
children, subjugated to modern day slavery.
And we have inflicted unimaginable suffering also on billions of animals in
factory farms, those subjected to wildlife trafficking, or to medical or
pharmaceutical testing. The list is endless.
And let us not forget the shocking destruction of the rainforests, the
pollution of the ocean, the devastation caused by the unsustainable demand
for the finite resources of Planet Earth , the clearing of land for
development and for industrial farming with its chemical pesticides,
herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers. The loss of biodiversity, the
increasing number of animal and plant species listed as endangered. A
daunting and depressing scenario indeed.
But as I was thinking about all this a little robin, with his cheerful red
breast, flew onto the bird table outside my window. I could just see him in
the bleak morning light. And before taking a beakful of food, he perched
there singing his little heart out. An exquisitely enchanting matins that
found its way into my soul. I realized then that he was delivering a
message: reminding me that there is still so much in the world worth
fighting for. So much that is beautiful, so many wonderful people working to
reverse the harm, to help alleviate the suffering. And so many young people
dedicated to making this a better world. All conspiring to inspire us and to
give us hope that it is not too late to turn things around if we all do our
part.
With his bright, beady eyes shining in the light from my bedside lamp the
robin gazed at me through the glass before flying off. He had played his
part, rekindled the hope that leads to action. Prepared me for the
challenges that lie ahead.
So this is the message I share with you now in the hope that throughout
2018 we shall be energized by the beauty that is all around us, and rather
than becoming discouraged and rendered helpless by the ignorance and evil
that is so obvious, we shall become strengthened by the goodness and love
that is also everywhere. And then we shall be able to use the gift of our
lives, to make the world that little bit better – every day.
And, by the way, we must take time to make merry, to have fun – and to
laugh.
Return to Animal Rights Articles