Sy Montgomery
on Being a Good Creature
“Go out into the world where your heart calls you. The blessings will come, I promise you that. You’ll know it's a blessing if you are enriched and transformed by the experience. So, be ready! There are great souls and teachers everywhere. It's your job to recognize them.”
Sy Montgomery’s heart has always been called by non-human teachers. Her childhood dream was to become a veterinarian, a vocation she considers almost holy. But she then realized that her mission to help animals as a writer, by getting people to care, love and treasure these great souls and teachers. Her powerful sense of observation led her to become “a scholar of nature”. Sy writes for adults and children in an effort to make them aware of "the connections we share with our fellow creatures."
To research her books, films and articles, Sy has been chased by a silverback gorilla, embraced by a giant Pacific octopus, undressed by an orangutan in Borneo, bitten by a vampire bat in Costa Rica, handled a wild tarantula in French Guiana, hunted by a tiger in India, swum with piranhas in the Amazon. Not even for a second has she seen these creatures as scary monsters. On the contrary, monsters can actually be quite friendly and kind!
“I’ve always had a fondness for monsters. Even as a child, I had rooted for Godzilla and King Kong instead of for the people trying to kill them. It had seemed to me that these monsters’ irritation was perfectly reasonable. Nobody likes to be awakened from slumber by a nuclear explosion, so it was no wonder to me Godzilla was crabby. If you took the monsters’ point of view, everything they did made perfect sense. The trick was learning to think like a monster.”
She placed this empathy for monsters into 34 books that brought her many honors. Sy teaches us How To Be A Good Creature through her Memoir in Thirteen Animals. The Soul of an Octopus explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus, a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature and the remarkable connections it makes with humans. The Good Good Pig, the memoir of the extraordinary life of her beloved pig friend, Christopher Hogwood, is an international bestseller.
Remind yourself every day of the sweetness and joy animal friends bring into your life:
“I often wish I could go back in time and tell my young, anxious self that my dreams weren't in vain and my sorrows weren't permanent. I can't do that, but I can do something better. I can tell you that teachers are all around to help you. With four legs or two or eight or even none; some with internal skeletons, some without. All you have to do is recognize them as teachers and be ready to hear their truths.”
Thank you, Sy, for being a Good Creature!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Sy Montgomery
Company / Institution: Sy Montgomery
Title: Author and Explorer
Website: www.symontgomery.com
Country of origin: Born in Germany, but a US citizen
Country you currently live in: USA
Your personal definition of Regeneration: Regeneration means being able to refresh and recharge (as when I start a new book!).
Main business challenge you face: Balancing time for writing, research, and publicity.
Main driver that keeps you going: The animals about whom I write!
The trait you are most proud of in yourself: Animals seem to trust me and allow me to approach them.
The trait you most value in others: Kindness.
Passions & little things that bring you joy: I am passionate about learning all I can about the other creatures with whom we share this sweet green Earth.
From the moment I wake up and can kiss and stroke our Border Collie, to our hourlong hikes first thing in the morning, to every other dog, bird, salamander, snake, turtle, cloud, water, rock, tree I see, I am in a state of elation, grateful to be alive.
The #inspirators who determined you to take the regenerative path:
One person who has greatly inspired me is my husband, the writer Howard Mansfield.
Another one is the artist Matt Patterson. My best friend is the bestselling author Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, whose books I revere. Farley Mowat was a personal friend, as was Roger Tory Peterson.
The list goes on and on.
A hint or starting point for companies or professionals that are taking the first steps in the regeneration journey: If you feel fried, go outside! (Easy to remember because it rhymes!)
Most used and abused clichés in sustainability that bother you: I won’t comment on that, as some clichés are treasured truisms that help people, and I don’t want to yuck their yum!
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope: When you can’t believe in yourself (and this happens to me all the time!), believe in your teachers - whether they were classroom teachers, friends who served as mentors, or, in my case, the animals who are my closest friends and inspiration. Believe in your project. Believe in the value of uttering your prayer.
Books that had a great impact on you: I list several of these in my own book, How to Be A Good Creature. Among them:
Never Cry Wolf - Farley Mowat
Of Wolves and Men - Barry Lopez
Gorillas in the Mist - Dian Fossey
The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod - Henry Beston
Must-reads for any regenerative professional: I’d say all the above!
Movies or Documentaries you would watch all over again:
My Octopus Teacher
The Weeping Camel
The Mission
Blogs / Websites / Podcasts you visit frequently: Radiolab; Invisibilia; This American Life.
Music that makes you (and your heart) sing: Songs from The Methodist Hymnal; all the songs from Godspell; The Messiah; Glory Days and Into the Fire (Bruce Springsteen); just about anything from The Beatles; Fourth of July by Joni Mitchell.
Oh, I could go on and on!! I sing all the time in the car!
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you: For my work, I’ve been to every continent but Antarctica and every one of them has left a (good!) mark! Even Borneo, where I got dengue fever and nearly died!
Global Regenerative Voices you recommend us to follow: The writing of Howard Mansfield, especially The Same Ax, Twice: Restoration and Renewal in a Throwaway Age.
Trends in Regeneration we should keep an eye on: All of them!
Best places for business networking (online or offline): Wow, I don’t do much of that! I am in the woods all day!
Events we should attend: Anything that makes your heart sing!
Associations, business clubs, tribes you belong to – and why: Like Groucho Marx, I don’t want to be a member of any club that would have me! Just kidding, but my tribe is not people. It’s animals.
Reasons to feel optimistic about our future in 2030: The kids I meet when I visit schools and talk with them about animals.
Reasons to feel pessimistic about our future in 2030:
The climate change deniers who in the midst of a world literally on fire heat global warming;
The anti-vaxxers who think COVID wasn’t real, even as bodies piled up around us;
The Trump supporters who ignore his proven evil and illegal conduct or think this is OK.
This really scares me. Who are these people?
Regenerative Leadership qualities much needed today: Kindness. Vision. Hope.
The quote that inspires you:
“When despair grows in me
And I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
In fear of what my life and my children’s life may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
Rests in his beauty on the water, and the green heron feeds;
I come into the peace of wild things…..
For a time,
I rest in the grace of the world, and I am free."
(Wendell Berry)
Your own quote that will inspire us:
