[Change agent Fran Peavey writes:] One day I was walking through the Stanford University campus with a friend when I saw a crowd of people with cameras and video equipment on a little hillside. They were clustered around a pair of chimpanzees - a male running loose and a female on a chain about twenty-five feet long. It turned out the male was from Marine World and the female was being studied for something or other at Stanford. The spectators were scientists and publicity people trying to get them to mate.
The male was eager. He grunted and grabbed the female's chain and tugged. She whimpered and backed away. He pulled again. She pulled back. Watching the chimps' faces, I [a woman] began to feel sympathy for the female.
Suddenly the female chimp yanked her chain out of the male's grasp. To my amazement, she walked through the crowd, straight over to me, and took my hand. Then she led me across the circle to the only other two women in the crowd, and she joined hands with one of them. The three of us stood together in a circle. I remember the feeling of that rough palm against mine. The little chimp had recognized us and reached out across all the years of evolution to form her own support group.
Quoted from Fran Peavey,
Heart Politics (New Society Publishers, 1986), p. 176
The female chimpanzee's insight and strength amazed me. She reached across species to find the commonality and help that she needed. How hard is it for us to do the same, even among our trusted friends and family? I wonder how that story ended; I'm willing to bet the publicity people's crude wish was not fulfilled that day. The little chimp's outreach out shows strength and intelligence, not weakness. The same goes for us; when we reach out for help we show strength, and by experiencing pain we cultivate compassion. It's not comfortable and it's not society's way, but it appears to be fundamental to more than one species.
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