A couple of months back I forced myself to catch up on the three 60 minutes reruns I had saved on the DVR while travelling.

As someone regularly bombarded with editorial content, 60 minutes remains one of my favorite weekly escapes and is journalistic storytelling at its absolute best. (I have even been known to require our editors to watch certain episodes)

One of the segments covered the amazing work done by famous primate researcher and conservationist, Jane Goodall, the chimp lady. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her story, you can check her out here and here.

In short, as a young shy 26 year old, Jane left for Tanzania Africa on her own, and without collegiate training directing her research, lived with chimpanzees. It was here that Goodall observed things that were overlooked by science and discovered much of what we know about them today, including the fact that they have complex emotions like us.. They love, laugh, cry an even hate.

Regardless of the ‘hype’ surrounding the story I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the facts of what got her there….

These were: Shy girl. Left her home to go to a foreign country and meager conditions. Lived alone for over 20 years. Ridiculed by scientific minds of the day. Beaten and left for dead by chimps… and has spent the remainder of her life involved in her passion

The more I have looked, the more examples I find. Great things only happen when people go to dramatic lengths and live dramatic lives. A regular, safe, socially conformist life never seems to have the impact necessary to make an impact on this world.