Who is my childhood hero? Jane Goodall

I am a big fan of Twitter, I think I realized I am a bit of an info-junkie. Not sure what to do with it all, but I like it. I am also amazed by who I can follow, just about anybody; including my childhood hero, Jane Goodall. Or at least her institute.

When I was just five or six years-old my parents started getting me the kid’s supplement for the National Geographic magazine. I would read that cover to cover. From that thin magazine I learned about Goodall’s work. If someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would answer, “An ethologist.” And if they asked what that was, I would have said, “Someone who studies animals in the wild.” Beyond that my goals were a little fuzzier: I didn’t want to study primates, but I wanted to study in Africa, maybe study giraffes or zebras. My oldest sister later gave me a book written by Goodall and I devoured it. Her story, life and research amazed me. That’s what I wanted to do, study animals, live in the wild, make a difference for the wildlife. I spent hours daydreaming about living in Africa, scoping out animals from a hillside watching their movements.

Life has its twists and turns. I was a wildlife biologist, but not an ethologist. And that’s okay. I made it to Africa, but not to live. And that’s okay too. My passion for our world and the life on it remains and I try to share that passion through my writing.

And there is Jane Goodall, fighting her good fight and still my role model. @JaneGoodallInst