Jane Goodall - What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make

Welcome to the Daily Quote – a podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I'm your host, Andrew McGivern, for August 12th.

Today is World Elephant Day, and if there's an animal that deserves its own global celebration, it's these magnificent giants. World Elephant Day was created in 2012 by Canadian filmmaker Patricia Sims and the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation of Thailand to raise awareness about the urgent challenges facing both Asian and African elephants.

These incredible creatures are the largest land animals on Earth, but their size isn't what makes them truly remarkable. Elephants are known for their intelligence, their complex social structures, their incredible memory, and their deep emotional bonds with their families. They mourn their dead, celebrate births, and protect their young with a fierce devotion that puts most humans to shame.

But here's the sobering reality – elephants face numerous threats including poaching for ivory, habitat destruction, and human-elephant conflicts. World Elephant Day reminds us that these gentle giants need our protection and that their survival depends on our awareness and action.
There's something profoundly moving about elephants – maybe it's their wise, knowing eyes, or the way they care for each other, or simply the majesty of watching these ancient souls move through their world with such grace and purpose.
Which brings us to today's quote from the famous conservationist and primatologist Jane Goodall, who once said:

"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

Jane Goodall spent her life studying animals and fighting for their protection, and her words capture perfectly why World Elephant Day exists. Every choice we make, every action we take, ripples outward and creates change – the question is whether that change helps or harms the world around us.

When it comes to elephants, this couldn't be more relevant. The decision to buy ivory products makes a difference – unfortunately, a terrible one. The decision to support elephant sanctuaries and conservation efforts makes a difference – a life-saving one. The decision to educate ourselves and others about elephant protection makes a difference – a hope-giving one.

But Goodall's wisdom extends beyond elephants to every aspect of our lives. Every day, we're making choices about what kind of difference we want to make. Do we want to be people who lift others up or tear them down? Do we want to protect the vulnerable or ignore their plight? Do we want to leave the world a little better than we found it, or simply take what we can and move on?

The beautiful thing about elephants is they seem to naturally understand this concept. They live in communities where the older elephants teach the younger ones, where they protect the vulnerable, where they remember and honor those who came before them.

Now I'm not an elephant and I've never seen an elephant in the wild but I do like making elephant heads out of my mandarin orange peels. The long trunk and the big ears on either side.Definitely an elephant... what else could that be?
So today, in honor of World Elephant Day, think about Jane Goodall's challenge. What kind of difference do you want to make? Maybe it's supporting elephant conservation. Maybe it's being more patient with your family. Maybe it's choosing kindness over convenience in your daily interactions.
Remember, you don't have to be massive like an elephant to make a meaningful impact. Sometimes the smallest acts of compassion create the biggest ripples.
That's going to do it for today. May you make a difference worthy of the gentle giants we celebrate today, and may you never forget that your choices matter.And don't forget to make some funny elephant heads with your mandarin orange peels too.

I'm Andrew McGivern, signing off for now, but I'll be back tomorrow – same pod time, same pod station – with another Daily Quote.