Restoring Faith in the Planet of the Apes

Ben with his sister and Orangutan Heroes at a Jane Goodall event recently.

There is hope. People who love America can also love the environment. They can, as my friend says, "Hug a tree with their hand on their heart!"

We learned this and many other wonderful things recently in Oregon. Due to my daughter's involvement in Orangutan conservation we had the incredible opportunity to see Jane Goodall two days in a row. We also met other real life animal heroes like Rich Zimmerman who runs Orangutan Outreach.www.redapes.org (He is the adult in the picture above.) He and his wife made quite an impression on Ben. So did Dr. Goodall. After a very tough week of trying to figure out where he fits in the world it was refreshing to hear Dr. Goodall speak about her efforts to save a species. Ben was moved, (right out of the auditorium at one point) Large crowds and all.....hard to be fully present when you feel like there are just too many people breathing your air....but Ben did listen from the door way, he heard her speak of her life long mission to save the chimps, and now her new goal to empower children. He felt invigorated by all the love and support in the room. 

     The very next day we drove to another town and heard her speak again. Both times Ben got to be a part of the Peace Dove flying. This is Dr. Jane's vision of cooperation and peace, giant white peace dove puppets flown by children. It was a sight to see.

     The thing that delighted me the most was to see the stress of the past week melt away from my son. He found a new hope and purpose and told me that he was glad we got to meet all these people. His sense of humor returned as well. That was a nice treat since we were trapped in the car with the boy for over eight hours.

One of his favorite things in the world is the breakfast that is served at hotels...more specifically he loves the waffles or pancakes that he can make himself. He ate five in a sitting once. Nothing like carb overload. At this hotel they had a little refrigerator with butter and jam and margarine. He asked me what the little tubs of margarine were and I explained that it is like fake butter, then added he should just grab one of the pats of butter....I was trying to get back to the table. Ben stood there for a moment staring at the margarine and said, "So basically they are just little buckets of lies....."

I cracked up. Yes Ben margarine is just made from lies.....

His view on the world is slowly returning to the funny quirky way we all know and love.

     He had a great first week at his new flag loving school. He told me at one point he sang to himself, "I'm a normal kid....yeah yeah....I am a normal kid....doo-doo doo!" Great song. I hope it makes it to the top 40.

     I didn't know when we planned this Oregon trip that we would need it so badly. We all benefited from meeting great people, hearing inspirational stories of animal lovers and connecting with people who feel the way we do. I feel blessed that I know so many amazing people and continue to meet more. I actually got to meet a scientist who has worked with a Chimp with Autism!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ-Pq6slH3Q

     He gave us real tangible options for helping Ben with a few of his struggles. He suggested using scented pencils when he writes to help trigger that part of the brain, therefore increasing his learning capacity. Sounds too good to be true? Think about how quickly a smell can trigger a long forgotten memory! Ben loves the new pencils and has tried extra hard to write lately. Patrick also suggested teaching Ben American Sign Language so that he has a physical shape of the letters to help trigger the memory of how each letter is shaped. This has been a problem for Ben in the past and the new option is exciting to all of us. Bottom line to hear ideas of techniques to try,  instead of being offered a pill was refreshing. 

Getting out, meeting people, doing things, and yes being brave enough to move on. Overall I would say that life for Mr. Ben is pretty good right now. Thank you everyone....including the school that would not bend to meet his wishes. Because of you he has moved on and up.