Viraj's Weblog

A beautiful passage from Jane Goodall's Reason for Hope:

I shall conclude this chapter with a symbolic story. It is about an American, Rick Swope, a zoo visitor who rescued an adult male chimpanzee from drowning in the moat around his enclosure. And this despite the dire warning of a keeper and the threats of other adult male chimpanzees of the group. When asked what had made him risk his life he answered: "I looked into his eyes. It was like looking into the eyes of man. And the message was: Won't anybody help me?"

That is the look that I've seen in the eyes of chimpanzees tied up in the African markets, from under the frills of the circus chimp, from behind the steel bars of the laboratory prisons. It's a look I've seen in the eyes of other suffering animals. And in the eyes of little children from Burundi who saw their parents slaughtered in the ethnic violence. In the eyes of the street children, and those that are caught up in the violence of our inner cities. Indeed, that appeal is all around us. Albert Schweitzer wrote: "A man who possesses a veneration of life will not simply say his prayers. He will throw himself into the battle to preserve life, if for no other reason than that he is himself an extension of life around him."

I truly believe that more and more people are seeing the appeal in the eyes around them, feeling it in their hearts, and throwing themselves into the battle. Herein lies the real hope for our future; we are moving toward the ultimate destiny of our species - a state of compassion and love. Yes, I do have hope. I do believe we can look forward to a world in which our great-grandchildren and their children after them can live in peace. A world in which there will still be trees and chimpanzees swinging through them, and blue sky and birds singing, and the drumbeats of indigenous peoples reminding us powerfully of our link to Mother Earth and the Great Spirit - the God we worship. But as I've stated repeatedly, we don't have much time. The planet's resources are running out. And so if we truly care about the future of our planet we must stop leaving it to "them" out there to solve all the problems. It is up to us to save the world for tomorrow: it's up to you and me.

I saw "An Inconvenient Truth" this weekend and felt this passage conveys alot of what the movie conveys. I strongly urge you to see it and make an effort to really change things.