Most importantly, compassion was what helped us stay strong when the pandemic brought widespread travel chaos mid-way through our trip, and what helped us make it home.
We also saw that compassion is not only a human virtue. On our first game drive, we spotted a giraffe with several birds along its neck. Our guide explained that they were oxpeckers, who eat the ticks on giraffes and so provide skincare. A staunch Darwinist would say that these animals are just acting out of self-interest: who would pass up a delicious meal of ticks! But many scientists feel this explanation is too simple: animals have a more complex awareness of each other and deeper ways of relating to each other than we commonly suppose. For instance, African wild dogs make collective decisions by sharply exhaling: the pack will only choose to hunt when enough dogs indicate their approval. Researchers recently discovered that at night, giraffes make a low humming sound, simply to reassure other giraffes in their herd that they are there. Most importantly, compassionwas what helped us stay strong when the pandemic brought widespread travel chaosmid-way through our trip, andwhat helped usmake it home. The field station’s only connection to the worldwas by satellite, so none of us had access to the news. Our teachers, Ms Castelli andMsMacintosh, carefully sifted through what they had heard, taking care not to alarm us. But you can imagine our surprise when, after having boarded the bus to our next research station, we were told that we were
Under the South African sun a mother impala nursed her baby. Birds we couldn’t see called out to each other over the humming of our truck’s engine. It wasMarch of 2020, and I was in the BaluleNature Reserve in South Africawith ten other Clementines. I knew that on this research trip I would comewithin a few feet of wild elephants and impala, and that I would be contributing to a real research project on biodiversity.What I didn’t knowwas that I would learn evenmore about compassion: the compassionwhich the local researchers and guides extended to us, the compassion that thewild animals showed to each other, and the compassionwithin our SCS community that ultimately helped us get home. All of us fromSCS felt rather vulnerable at the start. During our first bird point count, we stood in a circle staring helplessly at our guides, with no clue how to pick out the different bird callswewere supposed to be counting! But our guides told us that they too had been in our shoes. They worked painstakingly to help us identify the birds and shrubs. They told us stories about the crocodile in the river by base camp who was as big as a truck, but a coward at heart. They ran competitions to see who could spit impala poo the farthest! After a few days of their compassionate guidance, we felt like bona fidemembers of their research community, united by our desire to preserve the unique savanna ecosystem.
headed to the airport: countries were closing their borders and if we waited longer, wemight not be able to get home. We were able to fly home thanks toMs Perry, Ms LaForest, and the teamat OperationWallacea, who spent several sleepless nights trying to get us onto a flight. On the trip back, we hadmany group hugs and long conversations, taking care to ensure that no one in the group felt overwhelmed. In the airport in Zurich, we consoled each other by doing “game counts” on the chocolate Easter bunnies in the duty-free shops, categorizing them into adults and juveniles. Back inToronto, wemet up in local parks to check in on each other as soon as we could. Compassion is often associatedwith submissiveness and gentleness. Because of this, it is overshadowed inmany people’s minds by other values like curiosity or courage, whichwe think of as necessary for bold leadership and change. But in South Africa withmy fellowClementines, I discovered that compassion is what makes us strong in the most difficult times andwhat holds us together as a community. It might even be what, in the future, enables us to care enough about our impact on other communities and species to reduce global warming and preserve our fragile ecosystems for future generations of people and animals alike.
20 | Red Blazer Spring 2022
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