Not long ago, I read The Book of Hope. In this inspiring resource, Douglas Abrams interviews Jane Goodall, the well-known English primatologist and naturalist who made amazing discoveries about the life of chimpanzees in the Gombe jungle. Now, at age 86, Jane continues to be a vibrant speaker and activist regarding environmental concerns. Early on in the book, Jane describes how she managed to end up in Gombe. Her story reminds me of how each of our lives unfolds in unanticipated ways because of the people who show up and influence who we become.
In Jane’s situation, she longed to continue her education at a university but her family could not afford it. At the advice of her mother, she went to secretarial school and got a job which Jane described as “boring stuff.” Then a friend moved to Kenya and invited Jane to visit her. While Jane was there she learned that not far away lived Dr. Louis Leakey, the prominent paleoanthropologist who focused his life’s work on finding fossils of humanity’s earliest African ancestors. She chose to visit him, not knowing his secretary had resigned two days before she would see him. When Leakey learned of Jane’s secretarial background, he hired her immediately. He soon recognized Jane’s intuitive skill with animals and sent her out on her own into the tangled jungle to study chimpanzees in their natural habitat. And thus
began Jane’s world-renowned achievements.
Our lives may seem miniscule compared to Jane’s but we, too, have our life-shapers, people whose surprising presence makes a significant difference. Whether briefly or for a long stay, they influence the direction we take on our life’s path. We might not know this until decades later when we look back at our journey and see how differently things might have turned out had it not been for how these persons affected the outcome of our development. As often happens, the persons who point us in a certain direction arrive without our knowing the future significance. Trace your personal-growth lineage and you may well be awed by how you’ve become the person you are today because of these encounters.
Desmond Tutu, the beloved archbishop of South Africa, was fond of speaking about “ubuntu” as a central foundation for the way he viewed life: “I am because you are. You are because I am.” David W. Robinson-Morris describes ubuntu this way: (It) is a Southern African philosophy that has been commonly translated as “I am; therefore, we are.” However, ubuntu can best be understood as an embodied practice that South African philosopher Michael Eze defines as, “A person is a person through other people.” Our humanity is a collective endeavor; we create each other and sustain one another.”
We “create one another”—we are intertwined with humanity and specifically with those persons whose presence shapes our lives and influences our destiny. The more we recognize this, the better our world will be for it. Valentine’s Day is not far away. Why not acknowledge some of your life-shapers? If they are still alive, send a message of gratitude for how they made a difference as you stepped ever more fully into your personhood. If they are deceased, pause and place your hand over your heart; honor them by your memories of how they assisted you in claiming your true identity and path of life.
Abundant peace,
Joyce Rupp
