What happened when we all stopped narrated by Jane Goodall
Today we have something
a little different.
Dr. Jane Goodall
is going to tell you a story.
Stay tuned after
the animation
to learn how to download
this as a free children’s book.
Ready?
Let’s begin.
It starts as a whisper,
a word on the air.
It can’t quite be heard,
but you know that it’s there.
As gentle
as sunlight,
as tenacious
as hale,
in its route to the heart,
it could not but prevail.
And the people looked up
from their day-to-day tasks,
their day-to-day jobs
and their
day-to-day masks.
They heard
or they felt
where the whisper
could lead,
and they looked
with eyes wide
at what that
might mean.
And once they could see it,
they hadn’t a chance
To resist the
sweet song
of the deep spell
it cast.
But the feeling it brought
them at first glance
was pain,
as they lifted their eyes
on the land they had claimed.
Since they saw
at last
as if raised
from a dream,
they were almost alone
on the land and the sea.
For the trees
had almost gone,
and the bees
had almost gone,
and the creatures
in their shells by the seas
had almost gone.
And the people felt sad
as they saw their new Earth,
but they knew
this was it,
one wild chance
for rebirth.
Breaking new ground,
seeds rolling down,
smell of the earth on
your hands and your brow.
No time for sorrow,
we’re building tomorrow.
The sound of things growing
now keeps us around.
As the wildness grows,
and the deep wood grows,
and the sense that the
future’s come to meet you
grows,
There’s no chance
we can rest.
We must do
our best.
This moment can lead
us back home,
that’s our test.
It starts as
a whisper,
a word on
the air.
It can’t quite be heard,
but you know that it’s there.
It then spoke
like thunder.
Until we all moved.
And we could.
And we did.
And it’s done.
She’s renewed.
Help turn the whisper into a roar
by sharing this poem today.
You can download the illustrated book
for free at ed.ted.com/whisper
or keep your soul aflutter with one
of these animated poems.