Relational Imprints

A great educator is someone who instills a love of something in you light years after you leave the classroom. For me, it’s the orangutan. Every week for a year in Vito Dipinto’s middle school science class we would visit our animals at the Lincoln Park Zoo — drawing them, taking pictures, making observations…in those weekly visits I fell in love with the orang and I swear it was mutual.

It’s 30 years later and that experience has never left me. I don’t remember the habitat elements, locomotion patterns, life span or other scientific details about this creature, but I do know that I cannot visit a zoo without saying hello and that I would protect this gentle giant at all costs.

The funny thing is, the other person in this picture is a friend of mine, who I met in elementary school. She was a grade level below me and also picked the orangutan when it was her classes turn for zoological studies. She also has an unnatural obsession with this great ape. …so, surprise! We hung out yesterday and ended up at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

We’re both living proof that relationships are the core of learning — whether with a wacky science teacher who lets his students stand on top of their desks and sway to The Beatles songs, while belting out “Give Peace a Chance” or with an entertaining, furry, orange, caged animal. You can’t have core memories (wisdom, knowledge, passion…) without relational imprints.